File talk:Warships (3619496747).jpg

Ship identification

Some notes on the ship identification -- the white ship is sometimes identified as the USS Boston, which was also present at the Exposition, but looking at the photos at https://www.navsource.org/archives/04/boston/boston.htm (especially the ones from 1900 and later, after the ship was altered to remove its sails), it is clearly not that ship. Looking at photos of the Chicago from http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/chicago/chicago.htm, again in particular the ones from after 1896 when that ship's sails were removed, it is quite clearly that ship as all the small details (such as decoration on the bow, the number of guns and placement, and so on) match. All of the other early cruisers listed at http://www.navsource.org/archives/04idx.htm are also distinguishable.

The other ship in front is a w:Bainbridge-class destroyer. Of those ships, DD-1 through DD-5 are all documented to have been serving in the Far East (Philippines and/or China) at the time, so it can not be any of those. DD-6 through DD-9 (plus the three ships in the related Truxtun class) all had turtledecks on their bows, so this ship cannot be one of those. The DD-13 ship was serving in the Atlantic Fleet at the time, so it cannot be that one. That leaves only DD-10 through DD-12 as possibilities, the USS Paul Jones, USS Perry, or USS Preble.

In the June 22, 1905 issue of Pacific Ensign (Vol XV No. 21, also at Google Books, Mrs. Clark O. Southard editor, a publication by the California Women's Christian Temperance Union), a story on the Exposition mentions: To add a little realism to war memories there were anchored the night before in the Willamette, in front of the city of Portland, the United States cruisers Chicago and Boston. There were already, within sight of the Exposition grounds, the torpedo boat Perry and the revenue cutter McCullough [sic]. These form quite an imposing fleet of war ships, to which will be added, this week, the Italian warship Umbria. It is said there will be celebrated a “naval day” that the men on board these visiting war ships may enjoy the Exposition. So, the Perry is documented as being present at the Exposition in June 1905, along with the Chicago and other ships. It seems reasonable to assume that is the ship pictured here. Carl Lindberg (talk) 19:05, 26 May 2018 (UTC)