USS Potomac (1822)

Last updated

Potomac-frigate.jpeg
USS Potomac
History
US flag 38 stars.svgUnited States
NamePotomac
Laid downAugust 1819
LaunchedMarch 1822
Commissioned1831
Decommissioned13 January 1877
FateSold 24 May 1877
General characteristics
Class and type Raritan-class frigate First class frigate [1]
Tonnage1,726
Length177.83 ft (54.20 m)
Beam46.17 ft (14.07 m)
Draft20.5 ft (6.2 m)
Complement480 officers and men
Armament42 32-pounder guns, 8 8-inch "shell" guns

USS Potomac was a frigate in the United States Navy laid down by the Washington Navy Yard in August 1819 and launched in March 1822. Fitting out was not completed until 1831, when Captain John Downes assumed command as first commanding officer. Although called a "44" 1st class, she was built to mount 32 carronades on her spar deck, 30 long guns on her gun deck, two bow and three stern chasers on each of these decks, [2] significantly under-rating her on the rating system of the Royal Navy.

Contents

Service history

On her first overseas cruise, Potomac departed New York 19 August 1831 for the Pacific Squadron via the Cape of Good Hope on the first Sumatran Expedition. On 6 February 1832, Potomac destroyed the town of Kuala Batee in retaliation for the capture there in February of the previous year of the American merchantman Friendship, which had been recaptured and returned to Salem to report the murder of many of her crew. [3] Of Potomac's 282 sailors and Marines who landed, two were killed while 150 natives died, including Mahomet, the chieftain. [4] After circumnavigating the world, Potomac returned to Boston 23 May 1834.

The frigate next made two cruises to the Brazil Station, protecting American interests in Latin America from 20 October 1834 to 5 March 1837, and from 12 May 1840 to 31 July 1842. From 8 December 1844 to 4 December 1845, she patrolled in the West Indies, and again from 14 March 1846 to 20 July 1847 in the Caribbean and the Gulf. During this latter period, she landed troops at Port Isabel, Texas, on 8 May 1846 in support of General Zachary Taylor's army at the Battle of Palo Alto. She also participated in the siege of Vera Cruz, 9 to 28 March 1847.

Potomac served as flagship for the Home Squadron 1855–1856. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, she departed from New York City on 10 September 1861 for the Gulf Blockading Squadron off Mobile Bay. At this time, William Thomas Sampson served aboard her until 25 December 1861 when he transferred to the USS Water Witch as executive officer. The Potomac became the stores ship for the squadron and remained at Pensacola Navy Yard as a receiving ship until 1867, when she was sent to Philadelphia. She remained at League Island Navy Yard until she decommissioned 13 January 1877. She was sold to E. Stannard & Company 24 May 1877.

See also

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Brandywine</i> Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Brandywine was a wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate of the United States Navy bearing 44 guns which had the initial task of conveying the Marquis de Lafayette back to France. She was later recommissioned a number of times for service in various theaters, such as in the Mediterranean, in China and in the South Atlantic Ocean.

USS <i>United States</i> (1797) First of the six original frigates of the U.S. Navy

USS United States was a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy and the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. The name "United States" was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March of 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so United States and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. She was built at Humphrey's shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and launched on 10 May 1797 and immediately began duties with the newly formed United States Navy protecting American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France.

USS <i>Independence</i> (1814)

USS Independence was a wooden-hulled, three-masted ship, originally a ship of the line and the first to be commissioned by the United States Navy. Originally a 90-gun ship, in 1836 she was cut down by one deck and re-rated as a 54-gun frigate.

USS <i>Raritan</i> (1843)

The first USS Raritan was a wooden-hulled, three-masted sailing frigate of the United States Navy built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, laid down in 1820, but not launched until 13 June 1843, sponsored by Commodore Frederick Engle. She was one of the last sailing frigates of the United States Navy.

USS <i>Cumberland</i> (1842)

The first USS Cumberland was a 50-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy. She was the first ship sunk by the ironclad CSS Virginia.

USS <i>Essex</i> (1799)

The first USS Essex of the United States Navy was a 36-gun or 32-gun sailing frigate that participated in the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War, and in the War of 1812. The British captured her in 1814 and she then served as HMS Essex until sold at public auction on 6 June 1837.

Jacob Zeilin United States Marine Corps general

Jacob Zeilin was the United States Marine Corps' first non-brevet flag officer. He served as the seventh commandant of the United States Marine Corps, from 1864 to 1876.

USS <i>Dale</i> (1839) Sloops-of-war of the United States Navy

USS Dale (1839) was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy commissioned on 11 December 1839. Dale was involved in the Mexican–American War, the American Civil War, operations along Africa to suppress slave trade, and was used by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and later the U.S. Coast Guard, among other activities. Dale was placed into ordinary numerous times.

USS <i>Guerriere</i> (1814) American Navy frigate

USS Guerriere was the first frigate built in the United States since 1801. The name came from a fast 38-gun British frigate captured and destroyed in a half-hour battle by USS Constitution on 19 August 1812. This victory was one of the United States' first in the War of 1812.

USS <i>Shark</i> (1821) Former schooner in the United States Navy

The first USS Shark was a schooner in the United States Navy. Built in the Washington Navy Yard to the designs of Henry Steers, Shark was launched on 17 May 1821. On 11 May 1821, Matthew C. Perry was ordered to take command of Shark, and the ship was ready to receive her crew on 2 June 1821.

USS <i>St. Lawrence</i> Frigate of the United States Navy, launched 1848

USS St. Lawrence was a frigate in the United States Navy that saw service during the mid-19th century, including the American Civil War. She was based on the same plans as USS Brandywine.

Pacific Squadron U.S. Navy squadron positioned in the Pacific Ocean (1821-1907)

The Pacific Squadron was part of the United States Navy squadron stationed in the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially with no United States ports in the Pacific, they operated out of storeships which provided naval supplies and purchased food and obtained water from local ports of call in the Hawaiian Islands and towns on the Pacific Coast. Throughout the history of the Pacific Squadron, American ships fought against several enemies. Over one-half of the United States Navy would be sent to join the Pacific Squadron during the Mexican–American War. During the American Civil War, the squadron was reduced in size when its vessels were reassigned to Atlantic duty. When the Civil War was over, the squadron was reinforced again until being disbanded just after the turn of the 20th century.

USS Germantown was a United States Navy sloop-of-war in commission for various periods between 1847 and 1860. She saw service in the Mexican–American War in 1847–1848 and during peacetime operated in the Caribbean, in the Atlantic Ocean off Africa and South America, and in East Asia. Scuttled at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, she was captured and refloated by the Confederate States of America and placed in service with the Confederate States Navy as the floating battery CSS Germantown before again being scuttled in 1862.

USS <i>Peacock</i> (1813) Sloop-of-war of the United States Navy

USS Peacock was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.

USS <i>Supply</i> (1846) Cargo ship of the United States Navy

The first USS Supply was a ship-rigged sailing vessel which served as a stores ship in the United States Navy. She saw service in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.

First Sumatran expedition

The First Sumatran expedition, which featured the Battle of Quallah Battoo in 1832, was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against the village of Kuala Batee, presently a subdistrict in Southwest Aceh Regency. The reprisal was in response to the massacre of the crew of the merchantman Friendship a year earlier. The frigate Potomac and its crew defeated the local uleëbalang (ruler)'s forces and bombed the settlement. The expedition was successful in stopping Sumatran attacks on U.S. shipping for six years until another vessel was plundered under different circumstances, resulting in a Second Sumatran expedition in 1838.

George C. Read

George Campbell Read was a United States Naval officer who served on Old Ironsides during the War of 1812 and commanded vessels in actions off the Barbary Coast and India. Read eventually rose to the rank of rear admiral.

Henry K. Hoff

Rear Admiral Henry Kuhn Hoff was a United States Navy officer. During his long career, he took part in combat in Sumatra and in the American Civil War.

George H. Cooper

Rear Admiral George H. Cooper was an officer in the United States Navy. During his long naval career, he served on the African Slave Trade Patrol, and fought in the Second Seminole War, the Mexican War, the American Civil War, and the Korean Expedition, and rose to command of the North Atlantic Squadron.

Gustavus H. Scott United States Navy admiral (1812–1882)

Gustavus Hall Scott was an officer in the United States Navy who served in the Second Seminole War and the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and late in his career was commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic Squadron.

References

  1. Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the United States, including Officers of the Marine Corps, &c. for the Year 1825. Way & Gideon. 1825.
  2. Blane, William N., An excursion through the United States and Canada: during the years 1822–23, pp. 334-335
  3. Trow, Charles Edward (1905), The old shipmasters of Salem, New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, p. 121, OCLC   4669778, ...the brig Governor Endicott, of Salem, H. H. Jenks, master, and the ship James Monroe, of New York, J. Porter, master ... sailed to Quallah-Battoo, to rescue Captain Endicott's ship from its captors.
  4. Burzynski, Don (3 April 2006). "Pirate attack brought Marines to Sumatra". Special to the Times. Leatherneck.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2012.