The Gunboat Baire - Cuba Arqueológica

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the Secretariat of Finances in December 1905. On 4 February 1906, said construction
was approved by Decree 126 of the Secretariat of Finances. 2
In 1906, Baire was launched in Danzig, German Empire. Pursuant to the
contract, she displaced 500 tons; measured 196 x 23 x 9 feet. She had bunkerage for 120
tons of coal, and her engines generated 1,200 horsepower with Babcock boilers, giving
her a speed of 14 knots. The minimum draft was 7 feet, and the maximum was 10 feet.
She mounted two guns of 5.7 cm. (6 lbs.), two guns of 4.7 cm. (3 lbs.), and a Browning
.50 caliber machine gun. Her complement was 11 officers, 2 warrant officers, and 63
sailors. She made the trip from the Baltic Sea to Havana without any complications. 3
The elegant design of Baire may be appreciated in the photograph accompanying
this article, as well as the rambow, which was then in fashion. The venerable third-class
cruiser Cuba, before its reconstruction, also had a similar rambow.
At the beginning, the new gunboat, first of her name, was destined to patrol the
coasts from Cape Maisí to Santiago de Cuba. When in 1911 the Coast Guard Service
was incorporated to the new Navy, Baire continued with the same coast guard duty until
1920. In 1917, she was reconstructed in the United States (Charleston Navy Yard) due to
the First World War, and her original armament was changed for another of United States
provenience. As of that date, she mounted four guns of 7.62 cm. (12 lbs.) and two guns
of 3.7 cm. (1 lb.), all new. Apart from the .50 caliber Browning, another machine gun
was added, a .30 caliber Browning. 4
After her reconstruction, and during the First World War, Baire was part of the
“Mobile Force” of the Navy, based in Havana, along with the third-class cruiser Cuba,
the cruise-schoolship Patria, and four submarine chasers. 5
On 23 April 1923, Baire, under her captain Enrique Ferrer, transferred the mortal
remains of Mariana Grajales from Kingston, Jamaica, where they were buried, to
Santiago de Cuba. 6