c1920 U.S.S. Huron Asiatic Fleet Siberia China Pacific Tour Photo Album

Item Details

The U.S.S. Huron (renamed the South Dakota in 1920) served as flagship and protectorate of 25 Asiatic Fleet ships on their 1919-21 Pacific Tour, sailing to Manila, Tahiti, Samoa, Panama, Japan, China and Siberia. It was these last two ports, specifically Vladivostok in Russia / Siberia and Chefoo (now Yantai) China, that witnessed scarcely documented history recorded here. 

 

The closing bell of WWI coincided with an ongoing Russian Civil War / Revolution that had long since taken Moscow, but still raged in outposts like Vladivostok. President Wilson had sent American forces to guard British & French Arms while Czechoslovakia worked to support the loyalist White Army in reinstalling a royal regime. 

 

This commitment of U.S. troops in Russia was met with considerable resistance in the states and Wilson quickly assigned the Huron to retrieve these forces. While they waited for a thaw, our sailor snapped over 50 candid photographs of the surrounding town, ships, submarines, so called Red Army and 2 of Siberian Commander Graves boarding the Huron. These are scarce, primary source images of a little documented American maneuver in Russia and a chapter of the Russian Revolution not often seen. 

 

Also of significant interest is the ship’s stationing for rifle training at the new Naval Base on the Kentucky Islands (established just in 1919) near Chefoo (now Yantai) China. 

 

Of the 400+ snapshots in this album, nearly 200 are of Peking, Darien, Tsingtao, Shanghai, Hong Kong and roughly a fourth of that number specifically of Chefoo. This is rare, early record. 

 

Other subjects include the crew’s Neptune Equator Party, Death by 1000 Cuts Punishment Photographs in China (6 images) and Street Life. The photographer seems particularly entranced by beggars with a malady not often seen in the states. 

 

Excepting the Huron crew photo (roughly 8 x 10”) and (4) 3.5 x 11” panoramas (Tahiti, Subig, Ologapo & Vladivostok), most images measure roughly 3.5 x 5.5” (not all RPPCs). 

 

Nothing appears to have been forcibly removed but perhaps two dozen images are missing as the sheer size of the album has broken the strong binding and left many pages loose. The majority are secured only by paper corners but some are pasted. 

 

Included is the published book accompanying this tour, Russian Provisional money, the sailor’s insignia (I believe part of the Electrical Gang) and a receipt that seems to translate to purchasing tobacco in an Asian port. 

 

Over 300+ early printed postcards of all the ports visited, but w/ a heavy concentration on Japan (particularly Nagasaki and Yokohama) and China are pasted onto pages following the photographs.