U.S.S. Recruit

[Njaco]

USS Recruit

It was the first of its kind -- not quite 'building, not quite a ship. USS Recruit (TDE-1 and TFFG-1) the Navy's first non-ship, was originally a commissioned vessel and observed traditional Naval shipboard procedures like all other vessels. Any Sailor who ever served duty on board this haze gray ship awash in concrete, fondly remembers his first 'request permission to come aboard.

Affectionately known as USS Neversail, the Recruit was a two-thirds scale mock-up and served as a Sea Daddy to new recruits. When completed in 1949, it was 225 long, had a 24-foot, four inch beam and a 41-foot mast.

During construction, Sailors in NTC's seamanship division supervised the rigging with standard Navy fittings obtained from salvage and mothballed ships. The Recruit was commissioned Rear Adm. Wilder D. Baker, commandant, Eleventh Naval District, on July 27, 1'949. A commission pennant was broken and the ensign and Union Jack was hoisted.

It served as a school for all recruits going through basic seamanship indoctrination. The ship's deck was an exact replica of what a Sailor could expect in the fleet. The Recruit had cleats, chocks nd mooring lines and operated as any standard Navy ship. Sailors learned rnarlinspike seamanship, ground tackle operation, cargo booms, deck fittings, lift boat handling and signal equipment.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Nice post! That was pretty fascinating.

 

[ToughOmbre]

Learn something new every day!

Interesting!

TO

 

[comiso90]

Cool!

Much different times...

 

[syscom3]

Why would a Union Jack be hoisted aboard a US Naval ship?

 

[ToughOmbre]

Think the article should have said "Navy Jack".

Typo?

TO

 

[syscom3]

Think the article should have said "Navy Jack".

Typo?

TO

Maybe it was something perfidious? The royal navy is getting back at us?

 

[RabidAlien]

It has to do with the number of stars....one star per state.

Don't Tread on Me Flag History

 

[ccheese]

OK, lads..... Now Hear This !!!

For the benefit of you land-lubbers, the Union Jack is flown from all commissioned US Naval vessels, from the bow,
while in port at a pier, at anchor in a harbor, or sitting in a drydock. When the vessel gets underway, the Union Jack
is hauled down, and the U.S. national flag is hoisted from the fantail. The Union Jack is pictured below.

The USS Recruit was decommissioned in March 1967 due to the inability to classify the ship in a computerized registry of Navy vessels, but she continued to be used as a training facility until the base was closed in 1997. Recommissioned in 1982, Recruit was refurbished to look like a Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate. The Recruit still stands, currently unused, with the hope that she will someday become a maritime museum. She is now surrounded by a retail development at the foot of Halsey Road and can be seen from North Harbor Drive in San Diego, CA.

There was also a real, seagoing ship, USS Recruit (AM-285), an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down by the
General Engineering Dry Dock Co. of Alameda, California, 24 May 1943, and she was commissioned 8 November 1944. She saw action in the Pacific and was awarded
3 battle stars. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve in 1946, and was sold to the Mexican Navy in 1963.


Charles

 

[Njaco]

Charles, this is a warbird forum - we're a bunch of airheads not land-lubbers!!

 

[ccheese]

Charles, this is a warbird forum - we're a bunch of airheads not land-lubbers!!

Ah.... but you started it !!!

Charles

 

[Njaco]

 

[evangilder]

That's a cool piece of history.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Great info guys! I've got some photos of the Recruit in one of the books I've got on battleships. I had forgotten about it.

 

[N4521U]

The first photo is of the USS RECRUIT as I remember it in 1961. It was on the NTC Naval Training Center base. The second is as it is now from the Harbor Fwy from google maps. It was overhauled and remodeled in 1982 as the website I found has it. The photo posted looks as if it was built in the Broadway Plaza downtown S.D. maybe. I am thinking some additional research has to be made to pinpoint its location and just what it is. cheers, Bill

 

[N4521U]

I just did some searching and found this website, San Diego's "Concrete Frigate" USS RECRUIT Celebrates 60th Anniversary | Sea Classics | Find Articles at BNET which I took this paragraph from.

Actually, this faux ship was the third USS Recruit in US Naval history. The first was another land-locked replica, built to look like the battleship USS Maine and set up in Manhattan's Union Square during World War I (see Sea Classics, December 2009). It was used to lure some 25,000 men and women into the miHtary. During its 3-yr life, its deck was also used to stage several war bond drives, a presentation of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore, as well as a 1918 boxing match. The second USS Recruit (AM-285) was an honestto-goodness oceangoing minesweeper that saw battle during WWII, and was finally decommissioned in 1962.

San Diego's USS Recruit was one of three such training ships built after the WWII. The two others -USS Bluejacket in Orlando, and the USS Marlinespike in Great Lakes, Illinois - eventually were dismantled, but fortunately, USS Recruit was recently designated a California Registered Historical Landmark.

cheers Bill AXAN HS-4, 1961-1964

 

[Njaco]

Thanks Bill. The pic I posted stated it was from 1917 but I couldn't find any more info except the ship built later. So the pic matches the history although the story I posted is the later ship.

 

[N4521U]

Rightyoh Njaco. You gotta admit That's a pretty impressive downtown sculpture. I had never heard of it till you posted it. Kinda like driving thru Holbrook, and all of a sudden there's a bloody submarine in the park. "Now How did That get there"? I asked my wife. Can you imagine towing it behind your Holden Ute? Bill

 

[Njaco]

landlocked - such a shame.

 

[RabidAlien]

The USS Bluejacket was still on NTC Orlando when I went through boot. It wasn't being used back in '92, but it was always there, watching, as we marched and drilled and PT'd.