USS Recruit, 1917, Union Square, NYC
Perhaps no warship is unsinkable, but the several USS Recruits came close, primarily because they were based entirely on land. In 1917, the 200′ USS Recruit, also known as the Landship Recruit, was built in Union Square, in the middle of New York City. USS Recruit was a wooden dreadnought battleship, commissioned as vessel of the U.S. Navy and manned by a crew of trainee sailors. She was used for recruiting and training during World War I. The New York Times reported at the time that the “Landship” helped the U.S. Navy recruit 25,000 men or enough to crew twenty-eight Nevada-class battleships. In 1920, with the end of the war, the ship was dismantled.
Almost 30 years later, a second USS Recruit was built, this time on the West Coast of the United States. The second landbound USS Recruit was built at the Naval Training Center in the Point Loma area of San Diego. Not a dreadnought like her predecessor, she was a two-thirds scale Dealey-class destroyer escort. She was used to train recruits from 1949 until the base was closed in 1997. The Recruit still stands, unused, adjacent to a retail area of Liberty Station, as the redeveloped base is known.
The USS Recruit in Pt Loma sits across Harbor Drive from the San Salvador replica’s building site.
The Recruit was often called USS Neversail by its crews.
In 1969 boot camp I went to a few classes in the USS Never Sail while in CO 442. I was picked for the All-State Marching Corp so never went back to class as we were always practicing. I took my wife by the ole ship earlier this year and remembered the days there at boot camp. Of course most it is gone now but the memories will stay with forever.