USS Anthony (DD-515)

William Anthony , born on 27 October 1853 in Albany, N. Y., enlisted in the Army on 1 February 1875 and served two five-year enlistments before joining the Marine Corps at Brooklyn, N.Y., on 18 July 1885. He served ashore (at the New York Navy Yard) and afloat (in the armored cruiser Brooklyn) before reporting for duty on 12 May 1897 in the Marine guard of the battleship Maine.

An explosion rocked Maine as she lay at anchor in Havana Harbor on the night of 15 February 1898. As she began to settle, Private Anthony, who was on watch at the time, hastened immediately forward toward the captain's cabin to inform him of the event. In the darkness, the Marine bumped into Captain Charles D. Sigsbee as the latter groped his way toward the outer hatch of the super-structure. Anthony apologized and made his report "that the ship has blown up and is sinking." The two men then proceeded together toward the quarterdeck.

"The special feature in this case of service performed by Private Anthony," Sigsbee later recounted in a letter to John D. Long, the Secretary of the Navy, "is that, on an occasion when a man's instinct would lead him to safety outside the ship, he started into the superstructure and toward the cabin, irrespective of the danger. Maine's, former captain then recommended that the Marine be promoted to sergeant, which was accomplished on 14 April 1898.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Anthony II (DD-515)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.