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President Roosevelt congratulates Captain Gottfried Blocklinger, the officers, and the crew of the battleship USS Illinois for winning the excellence in gunnery trophy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-28
This document lists the ships in the largest battleship fleets in each of three countries: England’s Channel Fleet, Germany’s High Sea Fleet, and the United States’s Atlantic Fleet. Notes are included regarding the commission of each fleet and planned replacements, repairs, and additions to the Atlantic Fleet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-13
A picture of the sixteen battleships making up the Great White Fleet which started their journey from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to the Pacific Ocean.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-16
Caption: “Illinois,” the most powerful type of battle-ship in the United States (just launched at Newport News), as she will appear when under way. One thousand tons larger than the “Oregon” and “Iowa,” heretofore our greatest battle-ships, and is a sister-ship of the “Alabama” and “Wisconsin,” now being built.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1898
President Roosevelt accepts Rear Admiral Bradford’s resignation as Chief of the Bureau of Equipment. Roosevelt appreciates Bradford’s desire to “command afloat” and is pleased that he will be assigned to command the battleship Illinois.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-19
William Loeb encloses an unrestricted letter, wherein President Roosevelt accepts the resignation of Rear Admiral Bradford. Bradford resigned so that he may accept command of the Illinois. Roosevelt praises the career of Bradford.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-03-01
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of the Navy Metcalf compliments about Commander Andrew Theodore Long, who had recently left his post as captain of the presidential yacht USS Mayflower and asks that Long’s good work be reflected in his record. Long was set to serve as Executive Officer on the battleship USS Illinois, which Roosevelt misidentifies as the USS Iowa, as part of the movement of the Great White Fleet.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-19
President Roosevelt accepts Rear Admiral Bradford’s resignation as Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and is pleased that Bradford will be assigned to command the battleship Illinois.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-19
Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte updates President Roosevelt on the battleship collision case. Though the Court of Enquiry recommends a trial by court martial for the captain and deck officer of the Alabama, Bonaparte doubts that he will be convicted, and his doubts are shared by Rear Admirals Robley D. Evans and George Albert Converse and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Truman Handy Newberry. Bonaparte asks that Roosevelt inform him if he would like any further notice before the court martial occurs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-09-06
Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte updates President Roosevelt on several matters. The Court of Enquiry’s findings exculpate Admiral Robley D. Evans, though Admiral George Albert Converse hints that Evans’s rapid signals may have contributed to the collision. Bonaparte will scrutinize the matter carefully. He encloses a report from the commander of the Portsmouth, and though the New Jersey militiamen performed no “great feat,” he suggests sending praise anyway because naval officers are “decidedly ‘sniffy'” toward them. Bonaparte has received many favorable letters about anarchism, but the occasional unfavorable ones amuse him and he has enclosed one such letter. He feels that the Navy faces an uphill battle meeting its needs due to the clashing views of those on the deciding committees.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-19
Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte assures President Roosevelt that, upon his return, he will look carefully into the collision and Admiral Evans’ possible role in it. Bonaparte relays that Lieutenant Commander William Sowden Sims has asked to be relieved from service on the Personnel Board because of a conflict with an important target practice in October, a reason Bonaparte finds legitimate. He expresses pleasure at reading Roosevelt’s remarks about the Navy that were published yesterday.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-21
Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte informs President Roosevelt that he has received the Newport collision report from the Court of Enquiry, which found that officer error caused the collision. Court martial is recommended for the captain and a lieutenant of the Alabama and reprimand recommended for the officer on deck of the Kearsarge; the crew of the Illinois has been cleared of blame. Bonaparte is startled to learn that the Kearsarge had been in the care of a young midshipman though the boat was in a thick fog; this and other questions will spur his further inquiry into the accident. Bonaparte also notifies Roosevelt that, on his way to Panama, Roosevelt’s presence has been requested in New Orleans, and he discusses the logistics of such a trip if Roosevelt chooses to make it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-14
Francis C. Travers shares with President Roosevelt part of a letter he received from Father Matthew C. Gleeson, chaplain of the USS Missouri, on which a recent explosion had occurred. Gleeson asserts that some people want to hurt the President through Captain William S. Cowles, his brother-in-law, commander of the Missouri, by casting aspersions on the Captain’s leadership in light of a collision which occurred between the Missouri and the USS Illinois the previous year. Gleeson avows that Cowles saved both ships on that occasion through his expert seamanship. Gleeson urges that the Navy ought to have the Missouri brought to New York, to ensure that the truth be known about the recent accident.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-21
The U.S. Naval Court submits a statement of facts concerning an investigation into the collision between the USS Illinois and the USS Missouri. It concludes that Captain R. B. Bradford of the Illinois was not at fault for the collision.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-03-11
The brightly dressed Cracker Jack Bears stand on a Navy ship. The bears are surrounded by members of the Navy dressed in uniform. In handwriting on the back, the notation reads “Plainfield, Ill. Labor Day 1907.” Number eight in a series of sixteen cards that were sent for free to anyone who mailed in ten sides from Cracker Jack boxes or ten cents in “silver or stamps.”
1907
A rumor within naval circles indicates that a message was sent from a “high authority in Washington to a member of the court on the Missouri–Illinois collision.” Secretary of the Navy Moody denied any knowledge and approved the court’s recommendation that no further proceedings be taken. Opinion remains divided on the responsibility for the accident.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-02