USS Fortune (1865)

Last updated

USS Fortune.jpg
USS Fortune off San Diego, California prior to World War I
History
US flag 48 stars.svg
NameUSS Fortune
BuilderJames Tetlow (Boston, MA)
Launched25 March 1865
Commissioned19 May 1871
Decommissioned7 May 1922
Fatesold 22 May 1922
General characteristics
Displacement450 tons
Length137 ft (42 m)
Beam26 ft (7.9 m)
Draft9 ft 6 in (2.90 m)
Propulsion steam engine
Speed10 knots (19 km/h)
Armamenttwo 3-pounder guns

USS Fortune was a steam-powered tugboat that served in the United States Navy intermittently from 1871 to 1922. Built in 1865, she was the first ship so named. Fortune was classified as YT-11 on 17 July 1920. Through her lengthy career, she served as a harbor tug, fireboat, cargo transport, training ship, and submarine tender, among other duties.

She was launched on 25 March 1865 by James Tetlow of Boston, Massachusetts, and commissioned on 19 May 1871.

During her first period of commission, which lasted until 1 January 1873, Fortune was assigned to towing and freight transport services along the east coast of the United States. She then lay at Washington Navy Yard until being recommissioned on 1 June 1873. During the next 3 years, she trained cadet engineers of the Naval Academy, cruised in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico on survey duty and drills, and carried men from the east coast to New Orleans, as well as serving on harbor duty at many ports. On 11 May 1874, while off Veracruz, Mexico, one of her boats was capsized in a strong gale and four crewmen drowned. For his actions during the incident, Quartermaster Christopher Fowler was awarded the Medal of Honor. [1] Fortune was again out of commission between 23 June 1876 and 21 September 1877, at Washington.

Again in commission until 7 June 1879, Fortune sailed out of the Norfolk Navy Yard, carrying cargo to Washington, on harbor duty, and occasionally serving as an icebreaker. On 7 May 1882 at Hampton Roads, Virginia, Ordinary Seaman Johannes Rouning and Seaman Christian Osepins jumped overboard and rescued a fellow sailor from drowning, for which they were awarded the Medal of Honor. [1] Fortune was recommissioned on 30 March 1887 to carry cargo between ships and stations along the east coast until being decommissioned at Newport, Rhode Island, on 22 April 1891. She returned to commission from 15 December 1899 to 6 June 1901 to serve as a gunnery training vessel for naval apprentices at Newport, and as a gunnery tug out of Newport, New York, and Boston.

Again recommissioned on 23 October 1902, Fortune sailed to join the South Atlantic Squadron for operations around Puerto Rico, and on 20 May 1903, reached San Diego, California, for duty with the Pacific Squadron, sailing out of Bremerton, Washington, through the summer. On 2 August she arrived at Mare Island to serve as a submarine tender, joining in target practice and other fleet operations until going out of commission 10 April 1907.

In commission from 22 January 1908 to 29 May 1909, and again from 9 June 1909 until placed in reserve on 28 June 1912, Fortune continued her work with submarines. Placed in full commission for the last time 22 May 1915, she served as a station ship at Tutuila, American Samoa, using Pearl Harbor as her home yard, until being decommissioned at Tutuila on 7 May 1922. She was sold on 22 May of that year.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Enterprise</i> (1874) Sloops-of-war of the United States Navy

The fifth USS Enterprise, a barque-rigged screw sloop, was launched 13 June 1874 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, US, by John W. Griffiths, a private contractor; and commissioned 16 March 1877, Commander George C. Remey in command. She was later commanded by Bowman H. McCalla around 1890, followed by Commander Albert S. Barker from 1892 to 1896.

USS <i>Minnesota</i> (1855) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Minnesota was a wooden steam frigate in the United States Navy. Launched in 1855 and commissioned eighteen months later, the ship served in east Asia for two years before being decommissioned. She was recommissioned at the outbreak of the American Civil War and returned to service as the flagship of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

USS <i>Ramsay</i> (DD-124) Wickes-class destroyer

USS Ramsay (DD-124) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I, reclassified as DM-16 during World War II and again reclassified as AG-98. She was the first ship named for Rear Admiral Francis Ramsay.

USS <i>Pensacola</i> (1859) Gunboat of the United States Navy

The first USS Pensacola was a screw steamer that served in the United States Navy during the U.S. Civil War.

USS <i>Pomfret</i> (SS-391) Submarine of the United States

USS Pomfret (SS-391), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the pomfret, a fish of the seabream family which is a powerful and speedy swimmer, capable of operating at great depths.

USS <i>Plymouth</i> (1867) Sloop-of-war of the United States Navy

USS Plymouth, a wooden-hulled screw sloop-of-war, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Plymouth, Massachusetts.

USS <i>Iroquois</i> (1859) War ship

The first USS Iroquois was a Mohican-class sloop of war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

USS <i>Jamestown</i> (1844) Cargo ship of the United States Navy

The first USS Jamestown was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.

USS <i>Kansas</i> (1863) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Kansas was a gunboat constructed for the Union Navy during the middle of the American Civil War. She was outfitted with heavy guns and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named Kansas and was the first of a class of 836-ton screw steam gunboats. At war's end, she continued serving her country by performing survey work and defending American interests in Cuba until sold in 1883.

USS <i>Amphitrite</i> (BM-2)

The second USS Amphitrite—the lead ship in her class of iron-hulled, twin-screw monitors—was laid down, on June 23, 1874, by order of President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of Navy George M. Robeson at Wilmington, Delaware, by the Harlan and Hollingsworth yard; launched on 7 June 1883; sponsored by Miss Nellie Benson, the daughter of a Harlan and Hollingsworth official; and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 23 April 1895, Captain William C. Wise in command.

USS <i>Kingfisher</i> (AM-25) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Kingfisher (AM-25/AT-135/ATO-135) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.

USS <i>Grebe</i> (AM-43) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Grebe (AM-43) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper in the United States Navy.

USS <i>Falgout</i> (DE-324)

USS Falgout (DE-/DER-324) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. Post-war, she was borrowed by the U.S. Coast Guard and also served as a radar picket ship on the Distant Early Warning Line. She was reclassified DER-324 on 28 October 1954.

USS <i>Mills</i> (DE-383)

USS Mills (DE-383) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. Post-war, she performed additional duties for the Navy, including those of a radar picket ship and a safety and support ship for Operation Deep Freeze.

USS <i>Blue Light</i> Tugboat of the United States Navy

USS Blue Light was a steam tug built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as an ordnance tugboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

USS <i>Loeser</i> Buckley-class destroyer escort

USS Loeser was a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, named in honor of Lieutenant Commander Arthur E. Loeser (1903–1942).

USS <i>Bagaduce</i> (AT-21) Tugboat of the United States Navy

USS Bagaduce (AT-21/ATO-21) was the lead ship of the Bagaduce class of fleet tugs for the United States Navy. She was the first ship of the U.S. Navy of that name, and is named for the Bagaduce River and a peninsula in Hancock County, Maine.

USS <i>Leyden</i> (1865) Tugboat of the United States Navy

The first USS Leyden was a screw steamer that operated as a tug in the U.S. Navy from 1866 to 1903 and saw combat service in the Spanish–American War in 1898.

USS <i>Wando</i> (AT-17) Tugboat of the United States Navy

The second USS Wando, later YT-17, later YT-123, later YTB-123, was a United States Navy tug in commission from 1917 to 1946.

USS Nina was a United States Navy steamer commissioned in 1866. She served in a variety of roles — as a tug, torpedo boat, torpedo boat tender, salvage ship, supply ship, and submarine tender — before she sank in a storm in 1910.

References

  1. 1 2 "Medal of Honor Recipients - Interim Awards, 1871–1898". Medal of Honor Citations. United States Army Center of Military History. 3 August 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.