secretariesofthenavy

"George von Lengerke Meyer (1858–1918) was a Massachusetts businessman and politician who served as the 43rd United States Postmaster General from 1907 to 1909 during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, and 40th United States Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) from 1909 to 1913 during the administration of President William Howard Taft. (The position was a member of the President's Cabinet until 1947). "An interesting footnote in the saga of the sinking of the Titanic is that Meyer was awakened, against strict orders, by his personal valet, James Eli Kendall. For his actions, Kendall was fired, apologized to, and then rehired by Meyer. "The Navy destroyer USS Meyer (DD-279), named in his honor, was commissioned December 17, 1919" — (more...) Wikipedia  

Thanks for the information, Pixel Wrangler. We'll correct the name in the title field next time we update the record.

That building in the background is the same building pictured in the W. H. Taft photo.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_von_Lengerke_Meyer

Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) – I know you do a lot for Wikipedia – and I want to "get it right"... Was the quoted text in my comment with attribution and the live reference link to Wikipedia insufficient?

Visiting the Battleship Texas was one of my favorite things after it was retired and placed in Houston, Texas, next to the San Jacinto Monument. It is still there!

This was taken sometime at USS Texas's launching ceremony on 18 May 1912 at Newport News, Virginia.

world.of.pain.

Based on the bow planes and masts, I'm almost certain this is the E-1, which participated in a fleet review in the North River before Secretary of the Navy George von L. Meyer on the date this photo was taken. I'm guessing the other photos in this series were taken at the same fleet review. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_E-1_(SS-24)

Thanks! We'll include a "probably" in the new subject note, but your guess makes sense to us, too, after looking at the related photos and your Wikipedia citation.

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Submarinos/Submarines/UBOOT, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.

E-1 and -2 appear in this list of ships from the 1912 review: www.geocities.com/scs028a/1912List.html

This was taken at USS Texas's launching ceremony on 18 May 1912 at Newport News, Virginia.

Secretary Meyer is George Von Lengerke Meyer. As SecNav he had a major role in overhauling the antiquated structure of the navy. See Patrician in the progressive era : a biography of George Von Lengerke Meyer, by Wayne Wiegand, for an excellent biography.

bellhalla and desert11sailor: Thanks to both of you for providing more details on the events taking place in this photograph. We will add to the descriptive information. There is an interesting article in the May 18, 1912 edition of the New York Times about this event here, which also includes information on the apparently controversial choice of choosing Miss Claudia Lyon to do the honors. She was the daughter of Cecil Lyon, an active opponent of then President Taft.