United States Revenue Cutter Commodore Perry was a 400 long tons (410 t) twin screw steamer built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service for use on the Great Lakes. [1]
The Commodore Perry, often referred to as the Commodore, was a wooden-hulled, twin screw steamer. She was constructed in Buffalo, New York by Harry Whittacker, using his design and boilers he patented. She was laid down in 1864, made her trial voyage in July 1865 and later commissioned under the command of Captain Douglas Ottinger. [1]
The Commodore served her entire 19-year career on the Great Lakes, [2] enforcing tariff and trade laws, preventing smuggling, protecting the collection of Federal Revenue, and aiding mariners in distress. [3] She was replaced in 1884 by a ship of the same name, USRC Commodore Perry.
In 1884, the Commodore Perry was sold and converted for use as a single screw passenger steamer. Renamed Periwinkle, She served in this capacity until 30 June 1897, when she caught fire and burnt to waters edge. [4]
USS Perry may refer to the following United States Navy ships that are named for Oliver Hazard Perry:
USRC Naugatuck was a twin-screw ironclad experimental steamer operated by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War. She served the U.S. Treasury Department as the USRC E.A. Stevens, a name she retained until sold in 1890. She was loaned to the Navy by the Treasury Department and thus mistakenly referred to in U.S. Navy dispatches during early 1862 as "USS Naugatuck".
USS McCulloch, previously USRC McCulloch and USCGC McCulloch, was a ship that served as a United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter from 1897 to 1915, as a United States Coast Guard Cutter from 1915 to 1917, and as a United States Navy patrol vessel in 1917. She saw combat during the Spanish–American War during the Battle of Manila Bay and patrolled off the United States West Coast during World War I. In peacetime, she saw extensive service in the waters off the U.S. West Coast. She sank in 1917 after colliding with another steamer.
USRC Walter Forward was a schooner constructed for service with the United States Revenue-Marine. She was more commonly known as USRC Forward. Forward served with the United States Army and United States Navy in Mexican waters during the Mexican–American War and was commended for her actions during the Tabasco River landings by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, U.S. Navy. After the war, she was transferred to the United States Coast Survey for a short time as USCS Walter Forward before being returned to the Revenue-Marine for service during the 1850s and the American Civil War.
USRC Levi Woodbury was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War. Built in 1863–64, she became one of the longest-serving revenue cutters in the Service's history, and was the oldest active-duty ship in U.S. government service by the end of her 51-year career.
USS Polaris, originally called the America, was an 1864-screw steamer procured by the Union Navy as USS Periwinkle during the final months of the American Civil War. She served the Union Navy's struggle against the Confederate States as a gunboat.
USRC Onondaga was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 she became USCGC Onondaga. She served as a patrol vessel at various Atlantic coast ports before World War I and unlike most Coast Guard cutters during World War I, she remained under the control of the Commandant of the Coast Guard. After the war she patrolled for a brief time based at New London, Connecticut before being decommissioned in 1923.
The Pawtuxet-class cutters were a class of six screw steam revenue cutters built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War.
USRC Ashuelot was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Marine during the American Civil War.
USRC Kankakee was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Marine during the American Civil War.
USRC Kewanee was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Marine during the American Civil War.
USRC Pawtuxet was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Marine during the American Civil War.
USRC Wayanda was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War.
The revenue cutter USRC George M. Bibb was an iron-hulled steamboat built at Pittsburgh in 1845, named after the then-Secretary of the Treasury George M. Bibb, which served on blockade duty during the Mexican–American War in 1846, and was transferred to the United States Coast Survey in 1847. Its engines were salvaged for a second Bibb that is sometimes considered to be a rebuild of the George M. Bibb.
United States Revenue Cutter Commodore Perry (1884) was an iron-hulled revenue cutter built in 1884 for revenue service on the Great Lakes, where she served for nine years. In December 1893, she was transferred to the West Coast of the United States, for service in the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan waters, where she served until wrecked near the Pribilof Islands on 27 July 1910.
USRC Commodore Perry may refer to the following United States Revenue Cutter Service ships that are named for Oliver Hazard Perry:
The SS John Sherman, originally the USRC Sherman or USRC John Sherman was built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service in 1865 before being disposed of by the United States Government in 1872. It was a United States sidewheeler ship initially used as a Revenue Cutter on the Great Lakes of North America before being used for ferry service across Lake Michigan between the states of Michigan and Wisconsin. In 1874 the ship was chartered by Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad to become the first ship used by the company transporting freight and passengers.
USRC Jefferson was a three-masted, coal-fired steamship built for the US Revenue Cutter Service in 1845 and named for Founding Father and third U.S. president Thomas Jefferson. Her design and construction were advanced and experimental for her time. Her hull was made of riveted iron plates, rather than wood planks. She was fitted with experimental propellers rather than paddlewheels, but was still expected to sail. Like many early attempts at new technology, the ship was an operational failure. She was slow and subject to mechanical breakdowns. Originally expected to patrol Lake Ontario for smugglers from Canada, it became clear that she was not going to be able to catch them.
SS Ironsides was a wooden-hulled American package freighter in service between 1864 and 1873. She was built in 1864 in Cleveland, Ohio, by either Ira Lafrinier or Quayle & Martin. She was built for John E. Turner, also of Cleveland, and operated as part of the Cleveland & Lake Superior Line. She had an identical sister ship named Lac La Belle. Ironsides operated between Cleveland and Lake Superior for a number of years, and was sold several times. In 1869, she was sold to Nathan Englemann of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and operated between Milwaukee and Grand Haven, Michigan. In 1871, she became part of the Englemann Transportation Company.
USRC Algonquin was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. She was homeported at San Juan, Puerto Rico from 1905 to 1917. Algonquin served briefly for the U.S. Navy along the Atlantic Coast in the summer of 1898 before being returned to the Treasury Department. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 the vessel became USCGC Algonquin. The ship served as a patrol vessel at Norfolk, Virginia at the beginning of World War I before being assigned convoy duty in the Mediterranean. In February 1919 Algonquin was transferred to the West Coast and served in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska until being decommissioned at San Francisco in December 1930.