''General John McE. Hyde'' was a ferry boat built for the War Department by Charles Ward Engineering Works. The ferry was assigned to provide transportation services among the military facilities in Manila Bay, the Philippines under administrative command of the Coast Artillery Corps. ''General John McE. Hyde'' was sunk during World War II during the

Battle of Corregidor The Battle of Corregidor (; ), fought on May 5–6, 1942, was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II. The fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942, ended all organized o ...

, by Japanese aircraft on 26 December 1941 after safely delivering nurses from Manila to establish Hospital #2 at Coclaban.Barr has a much later date that is contradicted by other sources.

Design and construction

''General John McE. Hyde'' was among the hundreds of small vessels acquired after the Spanish–American War and during the early part of the twentieth century to support overseas outposts that were owned and operated by the US Army for specific logistical purposes. This vessel along with a sister-ship, ''General Frank M. Coxe'', was designed and built shortly after World War I, to ferry army personnel within strategic harbors. It was designed by the New York firm of

Cox & Stevens Cox & Stevens began in 1905 as a yacht design and commercial brokerage in New York City. The original principal partners were Daniel H. Cox, Irving Cox, and marine engineer Colonel Edwin Augustus Stevens Jr., son of renowned designer Edwin August ...

, who were renowned Naval Architects specializing in yachts and small commercial and military craft. The Hyde was built in 1921, followed in 1922 by ''General Frank M. Coxe'', to

design #244. The ships were built on the Kanawha River, by

Charles Ward Engineering Works The Charles Ward Engineering Works, Charleston, W. Va. was an iron and steel fabricator and shipyard founded by Charles Ward in 1872. They produced shallow draught boats at a plant on the south bank of the Kanawha River. It remained in operation ...

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

, West Virginia, a firm which specialized in shallow draft vessels such as ferries, riverboats, and tugs. ''Hyde's'' keel was laid 18 July 1921 with the launch on 11 March 1922. The ship was delivered to the War Department on 5 December 1922. The vessel was 900 gross tons, 539 tons unspecified measurement in some references, in length between perpendiculars with a beam of and draft of .

Operations

''Hyde'' provided general logistical and passenger service to the island forts and other installations in Manila Bay, including transportation of dependents. In 1932 ''General John McE. Hyde'' and ''Miley'', a local vessel, ran daily shuttle schedules on the Corregidor-Manila service with ''General John McE. Hyde'' leaving Corregidor on the two and a half-hour run at 8:00 a.m., returning from Manila at 4:00 p.m. and ''Miley'' leaving Manila at 10:00 a.m. and returning from Corregidor at 4:00 p.m. The vessel played an important role in garrison life, including social events, as noted in a story from 1939: :The social highlight of the month of March was the reception for the Army and Navy given at Malacanan by President and Mrs. Quezon. Encouraged by an appropriate harbor boat sailing to and from Manila, the captains and field officers donned their shiniest buttons and responded to the invitation in such numbers that the skipper of the ''Hyde'' hung out the SRO sign on the trip home. On 25 December 1941 twenty nurses were evacuated from Manila aboard ''Hyde'' destined for Hospital #2 at Coclaban with vessel lost to air attack with medical supplies for the hospital shortly after.

Notes

References

Bibliography

National Park Service – Maritime Heritage
Program Historic Ships to Visit – Listed by Name, specifications of the ''Coxe''

Coll. 34, Daniel S. Gregory Ships Plans Library

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:General John McE. Hyde Ships of the United States Army Ferries of the Philippines World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean World War II auxiliary ships of the United States 1921 ships