USACS Joseph Henry

I always knew that my Grandfather Schmidt served on a ship during WWII, but it was only in the past decade or so that I realized it wasn’t a Navy ship that he served on, but rather an Army ship.

Recently we’ve been spending most of the time when we are together talking about his experiences during the war on the ships USACS Joseph Henry and USAMP Gen. Absalom Baird. Both of these ships were Army mineplanters, which were also equipped to lay cable. In the case of the Henry the majority of her work was cable laying in the Atlantic.

My Grandfather was a Navigational Officer on both of these vessels, responsible for making sure the ship went where it was supposed to. We’ve talked about the perils of navigation on the ocean quite a bit in the last few months in light of this accident involving the USS San Francisco. To illustrate a point about the accuracy of the charts in use (many of which are based on 100 to 150 year old data from old surveys) he removed some charts of the Grand Bahamas from a bookshelf. I was surprised to find that these were the very same charts he had used 60 years earlier to chart the course of the Joseph Henry on a mission to lay an underwater hydrophone for a test program ordered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was a strange feeling, holding a piece of forgotten history in my hands. Not to mention a piece of my grandfather’s life that I was just beginning to know more about.

I decided to do some research on the ships that he served on, starting with the internet and heading down to the library if need be. I had last attempted this a few years ago (after my father retouched some pictures for my grandfather), but that time I had struck out. However, I was in luck this time - I happened across this excellent site which goes into some depth on the subject of the Army “Ghost Fleet” of WWII. Author Ramon Jackson provides a nice summary as to why I’ve been having such a hard time finding information on these ships:

I used the term “Ghost Fleet” after some thought. I was not fully aware of the fleet size and variety in Army vessels during the war years even with a long interest in World War II, ships and very extensive reading. I was even less aware of the extent of the Army’s role at sea and with ships going back to early days. In researching ships I’ve personally known I became struck by the number with Army origins and backgrounds. There was hardly a trace of what I was discovering had been a very large fleet. There are many “forgotten” fleets not given due credit. None I know of being so termed are quite so large and have such extensive history. The glimpses of the Army’s Second World War fleet were flickers, not quite solid – ghostly. The material does exist. It just does not find its way into extensive circulation and is not the subject of popular writing.

I spent a fascinating few hours reading through this site, learning more about the Army’s role in costal operations than I had in reading dozens of books on WWII. Then I saw this page on the site which made me stop and catch my breath:

Aris Bilalis, a ship researcher in Greece, was asking if I knew dates for some of the Signal Corps cable ships. Joseph Henry came into the exchange. Then it clicked. Joseph Henry was known to have ended up in Greece as a cable ship. Aris suddenly came back with the fact that Thales o Milisios, the ship’s new name, wasn’t among those fading away at all:

When I read your mail I understood why the name “Joseph Henry” seemed familiar to me.

She became a cable ship for the Greek state-owned communications OTE under the name Thalis o Milisios (ie., Thales the Militian [from Militos]). She was active into the eighties when she was to be sold for scrap. However she was saved and is now anchored in the Maritime Museum at Faliro, Athens.

So the Joseph Henry still floated, and better yet was part of a Maritime Museum! The site was accompanied by a picture (on the right) I recognized the ship from pictures that my grandfather has, as well as a pencil drawing of the ship he has framed in his basement. Reading through the site further, I found yet another picture - this one of the USAMP General Absalom Baird taken back in the early ’30s. This is another ship that my grandfather served on. This ship spent most of it’s time planting mines from Maine down through Boston and around Portsmouth and Norfolk during the war. This ship was very similar to the pictures I have seen of the Henry, due to the fact (most likely - I know very little about this) that they are from the same class, laid down in the early 20th century (1909 based on what I have read). It was very exciting for me to call my grandfather with this news - I let him know about the Henry, and where it was docked. I read for him large parts of the website and promised to print the bulk of it off and bring it in with me the next time I visit him and my grandmother. He also told me to offer his services to the researchers who are working on the website in order to help fill the gaps in their knowledge.