The Last German Four-Stacker Kronprinzessin Cecilie
Becomes The USS Mount Vernon
To find out the history and to see beautiful pictures of
this ship, take a look at the websites below :
http://www.greatships.net/kronprinzessincecilie.html
http://www.greatoceanliners.net/kpc.html
http://shiplover2.virtualave.net/Germany/KronprinzessinCecilie2.html
(I am grateful to Tom Zimosky, Librarian at the Fresno
County Library, for locating these sites for me)
Clifford Barth was the youngest man on that voyage in
February 1919 when the USS Mount Vernon left for Vladivostock, Siberia. He was part of the
United States Expeditionary Force (in partnership with Russia) that built the first radio station in
Siberia to enable better radio communication. According to my father, this was the first time that the
US and Russia had worked together on such a project.
He was working as an Electrician at Mare Island Naval Ship
Yard in Vallejo, California, when he heard about the government job opening. He and
his father, Albert Barth, vied for the job and Clifford won. This caused a
riff between Clifford and his father that lasted for many years. Albert
believed that he was better qualified and, because he was older, should have been the
one to get the job.
The team left California and headed for Hawaii. They
spent some time there and then headed for Siberia. There are pictures of
the Mount Vernon at dock side and underway as well as the Sherman in the
ice. It appears that at some point he may have been on each ship.
Clifford spent his 17th birthday in 1919, onboard
the ship Mount Vernon. He told me of the excitement he felt in leaving his home country for
an unknown adventure in a foreign place. He told of how the Royal family
had just been killed and the turmoil and fear that the Russian people
felt. Their was much chaos as people tried to escape the violence.
The team was housed with Russian families and he lived with them
while helping to build the radio station. He said the family he stayed
with was very warm and loving and made him feel like part of their family.
Dad's Pictures
I have included a few more pictures below from my dad's photo
album that he took of
his trip to Vladivostock, Siberia.
click on picture to enlarge
USS Mt. Vernon - 1919
Sitting on deck relaxing after leaving Honolulu, December 1918
(left) No flu, just 13 below 0, (right) Engine area with snow
Sherman cutting through the ice
Onboard the ship
(left) Drove heavy trucks for five months over frozen bay,
(right) Water from a public well
(left center) Russian cathedral (center right) part of
Vladivostok Harbor (right) Russian cathedral - 1918
Clifford and the Russian country side
(left) Orphans on Russian island in Peter The Great Bay,
(right) Benefit for Russian children by Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)
Taking a little break
(left) German prisoners at American Army Base,
(right) Checko-Slovaks (written on back of photo)
(right) Scene from Svethanskya Street, (left) Russian train
Different views of radio station - 1919
View of radio station from Peter the Great Bay
Looking up into one of the radio towers
(left) A Russian, (right) A Korean and a Russian sailor
Russians? (no description on back)
This series below is a continuation of his Vladivostock, Siberia, pictures and are
from a packet of "Memorial Post Cards of Victorious Allied Military
Developments In Siberia" and are in English and Chinese. I believe he
may have purchased these in Teintsin, China, while he was stationed there.
Packet that contained the cards
(left) Naval fleet in Port of Vladivostock, (right) Czech
going to France to join the French Army: Arrival at Vladivostock
(left) French Army landing at Vladivostock, (right)
Representative Officers of Allied Forces saluting the Imperial Japanese
Expedition
(left) American Army landing at Vladivostock
(left) Japanese Vanguard landing at Vladivostock to relieve
The Imperial Japanese Naval Party, (right) British Army landing at Vladivostock.
Representative Officers of Allied Forces exchanging salutes in the grounds of
the Czech Headquarters
Former Bolshevik Headquarters at Vladivostock. (I have only
loaded half of the picture as I did not want to offend or shock any viewers as
it is very explicit)
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This page was last updated 07/10/05
