Richard Castle and the USS Santa Barbara
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Except for the true parts, this is fiction. Rating: K, mostly. Time: The turn of the 20th Century.
Cavite Navy Yard
Manila, Territory of the Philippines
February 19, 1899.
Castle stood at the end of the dock and looked at his new command. She was sleek and lethal looking. She was still in her grey wartime paint rather than the white and buff colors US Navy ships had been painted in during peacetime.
He had to admit that she was small for a cruiser, but then again, he was hardly going up against the Royal Navy. Her five-inch guns and other weapons should be able to handle anything the Moros had.
As he began walking towards her, he could see that she was still in dry dock and that her crew, his crew, were hard at work getting her ready for sea.
"Richard Castle?' A familiar voice called down from the main deck. "Is that really you?"
He looked up to see one of his Naval Academy classmates, Mike Franklin. Castle already knew that Mike would be his executive officer.
"Of course, it's me, Mike." He yelled back.
As he did so, Mike came rushing down the gangplank to greet him. They shook hands and looked each other over.
"I heard they took you off the Raleigh and sent you ashore and you still managed to get in trouble."
Castle laughed.
"I had help getting in trouble. And what about you? You're on the Santa Barbara now?"
"Executive officer, no less. We're just waiting for the ship's captain to show up. I hope we don't get some elderly Civil War vet who'll tell us how easy we have it now with steam engines and steel hulls."
"I've heard your new captain is a real hard case. He'll have you toeing the line in no time."
"Do you know who he is? We haven't heard a word, except for rumors. Apparently, there's a problem getting the right officer to command the Santa Barbara."
"Mike, I can tell you that the new captain is a chap called Richard Castle, Lieutenant, USN."
Mike took a step back.
"You're the new captain? As a lieutenant?"
Castle explained the problem with the Army and how it had been handled.
"Thank God for the Army, then, Rick. A few more complaints from them and you'll get a battleship and I'll get the Santa Barbara."
"When will she be ready to sail?" Castle asked.
"The yard dogs are done with her, and we should be floated out of the dry dock early tomorrow morning. We have a full load of coal, ammunition, and other supplies. We'll need to take her out for sea trials, though."
"I can't wait. But, in the meantime, I'd like to see my new ship."
Castle spent over two hours going over his new command, checking the guns, engines, galleys, crews' quarters, officers' quarters and everything else. He found he knew all of the lieutenants from their time at the Naval Academy and most of the Lieutenants, Junior Grade. The ensigns had all attended Annapolis after he'd been commissioned, but he did know some of them by reputation. He decided he had a very good crew.
With the exception of one officer, Castle was the oldest officer on the ship, by a few days. The exception was Lieutenant Richmond Hawes, Medical Corps, the ship's doctor. As he wasn't a line officer, although senior to Castle as a lieutenant, he wasn't in command.
At long last, he reached his cabin, the captain's cabin. He smiled to himself. It was his cabin.
"Captain Castle, sir?"
Castle turned around to find he was facing a Negro in spotless whites.
"Yes, petty officer. I'm Captain Castle."
"I'm Steward's Mate First Class Montgomery, sir. I'm your steward."
As the captain usually ate alone, he had his own steward to prepare his meals for him. Castle was afraid Montgomery was going to be disappointed.
"Petty Officer Montgomery, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. I'm only a lieutenant in spite of being in command of a cruiser. I have very little money to eke out the official rations you'll be issued."
Montgomery smiled.
"Luckily, the Spanish captain left a few things behind in his haste to leave, sir. If you'll accompany me to the pantry, sir?"
He followed Montgomery to a snug pantry. When Montgomery opened it, Castle was shocked. The pantry was filled to bursting with food.
"Canned hams, smoked hams, cans of peaches, cans of peas, salt, sugar, flour…" Castle stopped as there was just too much to count all at once.
"Over here, sir, we have a refrigerator the Spanish left behind."
He opened the refrigerator and Castle saw it was stuffed full of frozen meats of every sort.
"It's electrical, sir. Runs off the ship's power. Oh, and we have a few things left for your spirit locker, sir."
Montgomery opened a locked cabinet to display gallon jugs of rum, scotch whiskey, Bourbon whiskey, gin, brandy, and many wines he'd never heard of.
"We also have some German, English and Australian beer, sir. There just wasn't enough room for it
here."
Castle was sure the last Spanish captain had not left all of this behind and if he had, American sailors would have removed it long before Montgomery got here. It appeared that Castle had a first-rate scrounger for his steward.
He knew that by long hallowed custom, the captain's steward was allowed to eat the captain's food. In addition, he would trade with other captain's stewards, the wardroom stewards, and any one at all, for that matter, to get the very best there was.
"Very good, Montgomery. I'll be eating dinner alone tonight and I'll formally take command tomorrow. I'll be having a dinner with the other officers sometime soon, so you might keep that in mind."
"Very good, sir."
USS Santa Barbara
Manila, Philippines
January 20, 1899.
Water began flooding into the dry dock before dawn, putting the ship into the water for the first time as a US Navy vessel. Once she was completely floating, Castle assembled the crew, all in their best uniforms and formally took command of the USS Santa Barbara.
Castle made a short speech to the crew, ending thus:
"Santa Barbara, or Saint Barbara in English, is the patron saint of gunners. As our job is to fire our guns at our nation's enemies, I find her to be a suitable patroness for our ship."
From then on, Castle had a series of visitors, some welcome, some not so.
"Captain!" Called the officer of the deck, Ensign Hobbes, "I think we're about to get some Marines."
Castle quickly moved over to where Hobbes was and looked down on the dock. Sure enough, coming towards them were about forty US Marines. The last two Marines in the column were hauling some sort of cart. Behind the column were three native carts, pulled by carabaos, a local species of water buffalo.
The column stopped by the gangplank and the Marine officer walked up it. He saluted the flag and then the captain.
"Request permission to come aboard, sir." He barked.
Castle returned the salute.
"Welcome aboard. And you are?"
"Lieutenant Homer Smith, sir. I'm in command of your Marine detachment."
"I wasn't aware we had one, Lieutenant."
Smith removed a sheaf of paper from his pocket and handed it to Castle. Rick read it.
"It seems we do have a Marine detachment. It seems they've decided that since we'll be dealing with land bound enemies as well as those at sea, we'll be needing some Marines. How many have you brought us, Lieutenant Smith?"
"Forty-one, including myself, sir. And if you'll notice, I have a Colt machine gun."
The small cart turned out to be a machine gun mounted on wheels.
"Your rifles and the machine gun are all the Navy Lee 6mm bullet?"
"Yes, sir. Is that a problem?"
"Perhaps. Our ship's small arms are also the 6mm Navy Lee rifle and we have two 6mm Colt machine guns, one in each fighting top. But the Army will be carrying the .30 caliber Krag and our Filipino allies will have 7mm Mausers and the 11mm Remingtons. That could complicate our logistics."
Castle turned to his executive officer.
"Lieutenant Franklin, we'll need to find room for Lieutenant Smith and his men. I assume, Lieutenant Smith, that the carts contain your unit's baggage?"
"They do, sir."
Castle noticed the Naval Academy ring on Smith's hand.
"You graduated from the Academy, Lieutenant?"
"Class of 1898, sir. We were graduated early due to the war with Spain. I was lucky enough to serve with the First Marine Battalion at the battles of Guantanamo Bay, Camp McCalla and Cuzco Well. I was wounded at Cuzco Well, just a scratch really. The Spaniards were shooting at a Sergeant Quick who was signaling, trying to adjust supporting fire from a naval vessel. He didn't get a scratch."
"Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. Have you and your men eaten?"
"No sir. We got in off a civilian transport very early this morning and have been on the go ever since. We last ate a dinner last night."
"I'll see that you and your men are fed." He turned to Franklin. "We'll need to feed Lieutenant Smith and his men, then we'll need to find space for their gear and get it aboard ship."
The next visitor wasn't so welcome. He was a Mr. Strank, who had some sort of a position with the State Department. He was here to brief Castle on his relationship with their new Filipino allies. Strank made it obvious from the beginning that he thought very little of the military.
"I can't imagine why the put the Army in charge of the islands. Certainly, they should be in charge of the fighting, but running what should be a civilian government? Of course, if the State Department had been properly involved, the whole war would have been unnecessary. But you glory hogs had to have your day, didn't you? The House of Lords or Westminster Abbey, eh?"
"I believe that's the Royal Navy." Castle said, not that Strank paid any attention.
When Castle took Strank to his cabin, he found Montgomery waiting for them.
"It's mighty hot today, sirs. Could I interest you in a glass of scotch with soda and some ice?"
"You have ice?" Strank barked. "Certainly. Certainly. Bring it on, man."
Three drinks later, Strank had mellowed considerably.
"Now, Castle, if we're going to make a go of the Philippines, we have to involve the local elites. The same as the British have done in India. This will be the crown jewel of our Empire, as India is of theirs. The ilustrados, as they are known, are educated. They've gone to schools in Spain and elsewhere in Europe and even in the US. They want to run their own affairs, but they are not fanatics. Even some of Aguinaldo's Philippine Republic supporters are wondering if being a US protectorate isn't better than being a weak, independent nation in a world filled with European empire builders. We're making General Rios the governor of the Marviles and he'll stay governor unless he goes off the rails. Your job and that of this Captain Ryan is to see that he stays on the straight and narrow. Ryan has experience in New York politics, so he'll be a help. His army will be kept intact as a heavily armed constabulary. Once we get a full regiment of troops down there, we'll be in a better condition to keep order."
Strank went on, mostly repeating himself, and seeming to have no desire to do anything but deplete Castle's scotch. Finally, he stumbled to his feet, staggered off the ship and into a carriage and out of Castle's life.
Castle was trying to get started on paperwork when there was a knocking on his door.
"Enter."
Ensign Potter rushed in, came to attention and saluted.
"Mr. Franklin's compliments, sir, andtheresaladywhowantstocomeaboard."
TBC