USS Wolverine: от роскошного лайнера к учебному авианосцу времён Второй мировой войны.

US Navy training ship in service 1942 1945

USS Wolverine (IX 64) was a training ship used by the United States Navy during World War II. She was originally named Seeandbee and was built as a Great Lakes luxury side wheel steamer cruise ship for the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Company. Seeandbee was launched on 9 November 1912 and was normally used on the Cleveland, Ohio, to Buffalo, New York, route with special cruises to other ports. After the original owners went bankrupt in 1939 Seeandbee was purchased by Chicago based C & B Transit Company and continued operating until 1941. Seeandbee was acquired by the United States Navy in 1942 and was quickly converted into a freshwater aircraft carrier for the advanced training of naval aviators in carrier take offs and landings. Renamed USS Wolverine, she was not equipped with armor, hangar deck, elevators or armaments. As a genuine flattop, Wolverine was shorter, and her flight deck closer to the water, than many of the fighting aircraft carriers of the day. Though unsuited for combat, she was highly functional in her pilot training mission. The first aircraft landing on USS Wolverine occurred during September 1942. From 1943 until the end of the war in 1945 USS Wolverine along with her sister ship Sable was used for the training of 17,000 pilots, landing signal officers and other navy personnel with minimal losses. Following the end of World War II the Navy decommissioned Wolverine on 7 November 1945 and she was sold for scrap in December 1947.

Seeandbee was designed by naval architect Frank E. Kirby for the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Company of Cleveland, Ohio. She was designed for luxury overnight service between Cleveland and Buffalo, New York, and the company's previous experience led it to require two basic design features for the ship. First was paddle propulsion which offered an increased maneuvering capability and stability in rough weather along with more space for cabins and decks. Second, was using a more expensive and much heavier compound inclined steam engine that could develop 12,000 horsepower at low revolutions without the vibration associated with lighter vertical type steam engines. It was felt that meeting these design features would improve passenger comfort and their desire for a good night's sleep. The ship was built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company, soon to be acquired and renamed American Ship Building Company, of Wyandotte, Michigan. Seeandbee, the largest side wheel steamer in the world at the time, was launched on 9 November 1912. According to the Interstate Commerce Commission the ship's tonnage was and
The interior design was by Louis O. Keil and luxury was a key element. Passengers boarded through a mahogany paneled lobby with a Tuscan theme. The steward's office, purser's offices, telephone booths and a stairway to the promenade deck were protected by a vestibule equipped with sliding doors. The main dining room, which was aft and extended to the rear of the ship, was paneled in mahogany and white enamel. The main dining room had alcoves with bay windows that provided some relatively private dining areas for the passengers. A banquet room was on the starboard side and two private dining rooms on the port side. A staircase led to a buffet area, below the main dining room, that was decorated in the style of an old English tavern. Seeandbee featured a main saloon on the promenade deck that extended almost 400 feet (122 m) in length. This area was subdivided into sections including a book shop, flower booths, an observation room as well as separate writing rooms for men and women. A number of private parlors were constructed, each was different design and contained beds, a private bath and balconies. When an orchestra played on its own balcony at the end of the main saloon the music could be heard in the parlors, the saloon, above in the atrium, and in the ladies drawing room. On the gallery deck was the ladies drawing room in Italian Renaissance style with built in seats and above, on the next deck, was an Atrium with sleeping rooms adjoining. Amidships on the gallery deck was the lounge with seating and provision for light refreshments. Passengers were accommodated in 510 rooms, of which 424 were regulation, 62 were fitted with private toilet and 24 were "parlors en suite" giving sleeping room for 1,500 persons and capable of carrying a total of 6,000 passengers and 1,500 tons of cargo loaded on the main deck.

The ship's dimensions as built were 500 feet (152 m) length overall, 485 feet (148 m) between perpendiculars, 58 feet (18 m) molded hull beam, 97 feet (30 m) extreme beam over guards with extreme depth of hull at stem being 30 feet (9 m) and 23 feet (7 m) molded depth. The hull was entirely steel with a double bottom extending almost 365 feet (111 m) containing water ballast and divided lengthwise with a watertight bulkhead and by transverse bulkheads into fourteen compartments. Above that 3 feet (1 m) ballast compartment the ship was divided by eleven watertight bulkheads extending from keel to main deck with hydraulic doors operated from the engine room. In total there were seven decks: tank top, orlop, main, promenade, gallery, upper and dome. Steel was used to the promenade deck with fire protection for beams above that level and fireproof doors provided compartmentalization and steel fire curtains in cargo spaces. For fire alarm purposes the vessel was divided into fifty sections with fire hydrants spaced so that permanently attached hoses reached every point in the vessel and an extensive sprinkler system. Propulsion was by an inclined, three cylinder steam engine below the main deck with only the main bearing tops, upper parts of the valves and handling levers above the main deck. The engine was unique in using a Walschaert gear, normally used on locomotives, to drive a Corliss gear for the two low pressure cylinders and the poppet type valves on the high pressure portion. The speed guarantee of was met by the engine's at 31 revolutions per minute. The high pressure cylinder, in diameter, was centered between the two low pressure cylinders of diameter with steam provided by six single ended and three double ended Scotch boilers forward of the engine room delivering steam at The single ended boilers were 14 feet (4 m) inside diameter by 10 feet (3 m) length and the double ended boilers were 14 feet (4 m) mean diameter by 20 feet (6 m) length. The two 32 feet (10 m) diameter paddle wheels each had eleven steel buckets 14 feet (4 m) long by 5 feet (2 m) wide. Due to the restricted channels at both Cleveland and Buffalo additional maneuvering capability was required and a bow rudder and steam steering engine were provided. Washed air ventilation units provided fresh air for all interior spaces with exhaust fans for removal of foul air. Three steam turbines drove generator sets providing electricity for 4,500 electric lights, including the largest searchlight on the Great Lakes, and the ship was extensively electrified for auxiliary functions. Over 500 telephones were on board, with one in every stateroom, the officer's quarters and booths in passenger areas as part of a public system and a private system for use in ship operations.

The name for the ship Seeandbee, based on the initials of the company that owned the ship, was chosen by means of a contest in which the winner received a prize of $10.00 and a free trip on the ship. In addition to the scheduled operation between Cleveland and Buffalo the vessel made special cruises to Detroit and Chicago along with other ports on the Great Lakes. In an advertisement dated 12 June 1914, the cost to travel between Cleveland to Buffalo on Seeandbee was touted to be less than a railroad ticket and that any railroad ticket for travel between the two cities would be accepted. During August 1930, C & B Transit issued a $10,000 challenge to prove that Seeandbee was the "fastest on the lakes" but the challenge was never accepted by the other steamship companies. For the 1933 Chicago World's Fair Seeandbee was scheduled to make a number of all inclusive trips that summer. Prior to the start of the 1937 sailing season Seeandbee underwent refitting. A new large ballroom was constructed on the upper deck, stateroom space was converted into parlors, and new showers, baths and beauty parlors were added to the ship. Due to heavy losses in 1938 Cleveland and Buffalo Transit was liquidated in 1939 with the vessel acquired by the Chicago based C&B Transit Company. Seeandbee was used for short excursion trips as well. A 1940 newspaper article from Buffalo, New York shows that Seeandbee was booked by the local Democratic Party office for their annual "lake cruise and party rendezvous" from 1 p. m. to midnight.

In 1941, prior to American entry into World War II, the need to be able to train pilots in aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings became an area of concern. There were a limited number of aircraft carriers available and these were assigned to front line duties.

The Navy acquired Seeandbee from the C&B Transit Company on 12 March 1942 for the price of $756,500 and designated her an unclassified miscellaneous auxiliary vessel, IX 64. Seeandbees existing superstructure was removed at Cleveland, Ohio, and the ship was towed to Buffalo to undergo refitting by the American Ship Building Company. A Coast Guard substation was set up to provide security for the work and no pedestrians or vehicles were allowed near the work site. The commissioning ceremony was closed to the public and was attended by only certain dignitaries, the new crew and roughly five hundred workmen who were still on board. Intended to operate on Lake Michigan, IX 64 received her name because the state of Michigan is known as the Wolverine State.

Wolverine began her new assignment in January 1943 stationed at Chicago, Illinois, at what came to be called Navy Pier assigned to the 9th Naval District Carrier Qualification Training Unit. Her sister ship, Sable, joined Wolverine in May 1943 and the two ships began to be casually referred to as the "Corn Belt Fleet". By 7 May 1943 it was reported that the 7,000th successful landing had been made on Wolverine. In conjunction with NAS Glenview, the two paddle wheelers afforded critical training in basic carrier operations to thousands of pilots and also to smaller numbers of Landing Signal Officers (LSOs). Wolverine and Sable enabled the pilots and LSOs to learn to handle take offs and landings on a real flight deck. Sable and Wolverine were a far cry from front line carriers, but they accomplished the Navy's purpose: qualifying naval aviators fresh from operational flight training in carrier landings. Wolverine and Sable were not true aircraft carriers and they had certain limitations. One was that there were no elevators or hangar decks to store damaged aircraft. If all the storage spaces on the flight deck were filled with damaged aircraft, the day's operations were over and the carriers headed back to their pier in Chicago. The ship was offered to U. S. citizens for either U. S. flag operation or scrapping and sold 21 November 1947 to A. F. Wagner Iron Works of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for $46,789 to be scrapped.

The Department of Justice brought a case regarding the sale of Seeandbee to the U. S. Government. The case involved claims that the value of the ship was knowingly inflated by $275,000 by using false statements regarding the amount of time the C&B Transit Company owned Seeandbee, false statements regarding the amount invested in the ship and submitting falsified records that inflated the earnings produced from operating Seeandbee. The former president of the C&B Transit Company plead nolo contendere and was fined $5,000. The government was able to recover the $275,000 from five former stockholders of the C&B Transit Company in addition to $235,981 in taxes that had been paid on capital gains.