Friday's Photo: Claude Louis Davis at the U.S.S. Franklin

Claude Louis Davis  1893 - 1967

A few weeks ago, I received my grandfather's 46-page military record from the  National Archives at Saint Louis. It answered so many of my questions. My grandfather, 22-year-old Claude Louis Davis from Edmonson County, Kentucky, enlisted in the United States Navy on 10 February 1915 at the Navy Recruiting Station in Cincinnati, Ohio, and served for almost four years. 

On 4 March 1915, he was stationed on the U.S.S. Franklin, a receiving ship in Norfolk, Virginia, that housed recruits while they were at  St. Helena Naval Training Station. The record indicated that he was in the Naval Hospital in Norfolk beginning on 26 March for about five days. On the back of the above photo, my mother wrote that it was taken soon after he recovered from the measles, so that probably explains his time in the hospital. His record shows his rate as CP (Coal Passer). He remained on the U.S.S. Franklin until May or June of 1915. 

 

Receiving ship, U.S.S Franklin, Norfolk, Virginia - 1907

As I live in the Hampton Roads area, where there are many military bases and where my grandfather was stationed, I was very curious about the location of the St. Helena Naval Training Station. For those family members familiar with the area, I learned it was in the Berkley area. A friend who lives in that area said there is now an elementary school named St. Helena where the Naval Training Station once stood. 

You can read the following newspaper clippings to learn more about the St. Helena Naval Training Station. 

St. Helena as a Training Station

Here And There - The end of the old St. Helena Naval Training Station

Old Days at the St Helena Naval Training Station

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Diana

© 2024 

Claude Louis Davis, photograph, 1915; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of D.B. Quinn, 2024.

Davis, Claud Louis, Official Military Personnel File, United States Navy, File No. 001303506, Record Group 024, National Archives - Saint Louis.

"UA 460.29 USS Franklin (1864) Collection," Naval History and Heritage Command (https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/alphabetical---donations0/f/ua-460-29-uss-franklin--1864--collection-.html : accessed 26 June 2024).