1906: The Launch of a Steamship that Would Make Pioneering Contributions to Both Maritime and Airborne Means of Transportation

April 21, 1906

The coastal passenger steamship SS Governor Cobb was launched at Roach’s Shipyard in the city of Chester, Pennsylvania. This vessel was the first ship built in the United States to be powered by steam turbines. That turbine technology was provided for the Governor Cobb by the New Jersey-based marine engineering firm W. & A. Fletcher Company. Andrew Fletcher was the company’s president and treasurer, as part of the launch, his seven-year old daughter Jeanne broke a bottle of champagne on the hull of the vessel. The hundreds of people on hand for the ceremony included Maine Governor William T. Cobb, for whom the vessel was named. 

The Governor Cobb was placed in service by the Eastern Steamship Company for regular runs between cities of Saint John in Canadian province of New Brunswick and Boston, Massachusetts. During World War I, the vessel was used as a training ship by the U.S. Shipping Board. After the war, the Governor Cobb was leased to the Peninsular & Occidental Steamship Company and used for several years for a regular route between Key West, Florida, and Cuba’s capital city of Havana. 

The Governor Cobb was brought back into military service during World War II, when she was requisitioned by the U.S. War Shipping Administration in 1942. The steamship was subsequently acquired by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and renamed USCGC Cobb. This new USCG cutter underwent several major modifications, including the installation of a large flight deck to test unprecedented helicopter takeoffs and landings at sea. Consequently, USCGC Cobb became the first-ever helicopter carrier when the first successful takeoff of that type of aircraft from the vessel’s flight deck took place. USCGC Cobb played a pioneering role as well when she was used during the war to help facilitate several of the first helicopter search-and-rescue trials.

After the war, USCGC Cobb — due to high maintenance costs — was decommissioned and sold. This vessel was scrapped in 1947. (The attached postcard depicting SS Governor Cobb was created in 1906.)

Image Credit: Public Domain

For more information on SS Governor Cobb (later renamed USCGC Cobb), please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Governor_Cobb