Official caption, February 1919: “American troops in Fiume, Hungary [today Rijeka, Croatia], aboard a Yankee ‘Submarine Chaser.’ In the harbor of Fiume, members of [the] 332nd U.S. Infantry, stationed in the city, hold a reunion with some bluejackets from ‘back home.’ American soldiers now occupying Fiume (on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea) are those who operated with the Italian army on the Piave River.”
Note the ash cans over the stern and the mix of blue jackets and Ohio Doughboys. U.S. Army photo 111-SC-50709. National Archives Identifier 86707176.
A trio of the Navy’s 110-foot subchasers, USS SC-124, SC-125, and SC-127, called at Fiume several times between late November 1918 and early March 1919. The strategic port, once home to the Austrian Navy Academy and a large part of the Kaiser’s fleet, was claimed by several in the post-war disintegration that followed the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The chasers, which had originally been dispatched to serve on the Otranto barrage, would have a hectic five months in the Adriatic during the occupation and often had to stand up to much larger “allies.”
“Three Yankee Submarine Chasers docked in harbor of Fiume, Hungary attract the attention of spectators on the waterfront” SC-127 is shown moored between SC-124 and SC-125. Behind the three sub-chasers are two Italian Destroyers, Giuseppe Siritori (SR) and Vicenzo Orsini (OR). In the background are a battleship of the Emanuele Filiberto class (1897) and an armored cruiser of the San Giorgio Class (1908). Army 111-SC-50714. National Archives 86707186