USS Wampanoag (1864)

Last updated
USS Florida.jpg
USS Florida, formerly Wampanoag. Probably photographed at New York, 1869.
History
Flag of the United States (1863-1865).svg United States
NameUSS Wampanoag
Builder New York Navy Yard
Laid down3 August 1863
Launched15 December 1864
Commissioned17 September 1867
Decommissioned5 May 1868
RenamedFlorida, 15 May 1869
FateSold, 27 February 1885
General characteristics
Type Screw frigate
Displacement4,215 long tons (4,283 t)
Length355 ft (108 m)
Beam45 ft 2 in (13.77 m)
Draft19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Armament
  • 10 × 8 in (200 mm) smoothbore gun
  • 2 × 100-pounder (45 kg) guns
  • 2 × 24-pounder (11 kg) howitzer
  • 2 × 12-pounder (5 kg) howitzer
  • 1 × 60-pounder (27 kg) rifled pivot gun

The first USS Wampanoag was a screw frigate in the United States Navy built during the American Civil War.

Contents

Development and design

Commerce raiding by CSS Alabama and CSS Florida, both built in English yards, reached a point in 1863 where continued peaceful relations between the United States and Great Britain were seriously jeopardized. As a result, Congress responded by authorizing construction of a new class of screw frigates as part of the naval procurement bill of that year. These vessels, designed to be the fastest in the world, were intended for use in hit-and-run operations against British ports and commerce in the event of war. Wampanoag was the lead ship of this class, which also included the Madawaska.

Wampanoag contained numerous design features unprecedented in American naval construction. Her hull designed by clipper ship architect Benjamin Franklin Delano was unusually long and tapered relative to the vessel's beam. Her machinery, developed by Naval Engineer Benjamin F. Isherwood, was unique for its geared steam engine in which slow-moving machinery coupled to fast-moving propulsion gear. Tremendous debate caused by this design delayed construction, preventing Wampanoag from being completed in time to serve in the American Civil War.

Service history

Wampanoag was laid down on 3 August 1863 by the New York Navy Yard; launched on 15 December 1864; sponsored by Miss Case, daughter of Capt. Augustus Ludlow Case, second-in-command of the navy yard; and commissioned on 17 September 1867, Capt. J. W. A. Nicholson in command.

Sea trials

The screw frigate finally left New York for sea trials on 7 February 1868. On 11 February, she commenced speed tests, running flat-out in rough weather from Barnegat Light, New Jersey, to Tybee Island, Georgia. She covered the distance of 633 nautical miles (1,172 km) in 38 hours for an average sustained speed of 16.6 knots (31 km/h), at one point making 17.75 knots (33 km/h). However, the validity of these trials have been called into question: all speeds were recorded out of sight of land, making their measurement less accurate, [lower-alpha 1] and may have been assisted by offshore currents. [2] This record for a United States Navy vessel stood for 21 years until it was broken by USS Charleston (C-2), though HMS Mercury (1878) achieved 18.6 knots on her trial a decade later. [3] However, the wooden gear wheels used in the ship's unique geared engine wore down by 5/8 of an inch during the first voyage alone. [2]

Deployment

From 22 February 1868 to 8 April, Wampanoag was deployed as flagship of the North Atlantic Fleet. On 5 May 1868, she decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard. Wampanoag was renamed Florida on 15 May 1869.

Condemnation

The controversy generated by the frigate's unconventional design reached a peak in 1869 when a naval commission examined and condemned the vessel. Rear Admiral Louis M. Goldsborough, Commodore Charles S. Boggs, and Engineers Edward D. Robie, John W. Moore, and Isaac Newton judged the ship unacceptable for active duty in the Navy. They complained of her unusually large machinery spaces and heavy coal consumption, and found particular fault with her narrow breadth relative to her length. The commission said this caused inordinate rolling and straining of the vessel. They calculated that of all the weight the hull could accommodate, 84% was taken up by engines, boilers and coal supplies, leaving only 16% for masts, sails, rigging, anchors, guns, provisions and water. [4] Wampanoag also burned 136 tons of coal a day, [5] enough for only five days of steaming: a serious handicap in a commerce raider which could be expected to spend most of its time chasing down enemy ships on the high seas. [lower-alpha 2] As a result, Florida remained in ordinary at New York for five years before departing on 5 March 1874, bound for New London, Connecticut, to become a receiving and store ship at the naval station there.

Florida remained at New London, rotting, until February 1885. She was sold, at New York, on 27 February 1885 to Edwin LeBars.

See also

Notes

  1. A 1927 reappraisal of the trials suggested that the distance could have overstated by up to 30 miles. [1]
  2. Brown points out that the design figure of 700 tons is suspect: he believes that the drawings do not show room for this amount and points out that her sister ship USS Tennessee (1863) carried only 380 tons after some of her engines and boilers were removed. [2]

Citations

  1. Wegner & Ratliff 1998, p. 25.
  2. 1 2 3 Brown 2003, p. 19.
  3. Gardiner 2001, p. 90.
  4. Bradford 1986, p. 312.
  5. Bennett 1896, p. 578.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Maine</i> (1889) 19th-century battleship of the United States Navy

Maine was a United States Navy ship that sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, contributing to the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April. American newspapers, engaging in yellow journalism to boost circulation, claimed that the Spanish were responsible for the ship's destruction. The phrase, "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!" became a rallying cry for action. Although the Maine explosion was not a direct cause, it served as a catalyst that accelerated the events leading up to the war.

Steam frigate Type of steam-powered warship

Steam frigates, the larger steam ships of the line and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. The first such ships were paddle steamers. Later on the invention of screw propulsion enabled construction of steam-powered versions of the traditional ships of the line, frigates, corvettes, sloops and gunboats.

USS <i>Merrimack</i> (1855) U.S. Navy Steam frigate

USS Merrimack, also improperly Merrimac, was a steam frigate, best known as the hull upon which the ironclad warship CSS Virginia was constructed during the American Civil War. The CSS Virginia then took part in the Battle of Hampton Roads in the first engagement between ironclad warships.

USS <i>San Jacinto</i> (1850) Screw frigate in the US Navy famous for her role in the Trent Affair of 1861

The first USS San Jacinto was an early screw frigate in the United States Navy during the mid-19th century. She was named for the San Jacinto River, site of the Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. She is perhaps best known for her role in the Trent Affair of 1861.

USS <i>Tennessee</i> (1865)

USS Tennessee, originally USS Madawaska, was a screw frigate built of wood at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, and launched as Madawaska on 8 July 1865. Powered by two Ericsson vibrating-lever engines, Madawaska departed New York City for sea trials 14 January 1867, Commander Francis A. Roe in command. Remaining at sea for one week, she steamed nearly 1,000 nautical miles before returning when her supply of coal was exhausted.

Benjamin F. Isherwood

Benjamin Franklin Isherwood was an engineering officer in the United States Navy during the early days of steam-powered warships. He served as a ship's engineer during the Mexican–American War, and after the war did experimental work with steam propulsion. Rising to the rank of rear admiral, as Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy during the Civil War, he helped to found the Navy's Bureau of Steam Engineering.

Underway replenishment Method of transferring fuel, munitions, and stores from one ship to another while under way

Replenishment at sea (RAS) or underway replenishment (UNREP) is a method of transferring fuel, munitions, and stores from one ship to another while under way. First developed in the early 20th century it was used extensively by the United States Navy as a logistics support technique in the Pacific theatre of World War II, permitting U.S. carrier task forces to remain at sea indefinitely.

United States floating battery <i>Demologos</i>

Demologos was the first warship to be propelled by a steam engine. She was a wooden floating battery built to defend New York Harbor from the Royal Navy during the War of 1812. The vessel was designed to a unique pattern by Robert Fulton, and was renamed Fulton after his death. Because of the prompt end of the war, Demologos never saw action, and no other ship like her was built.

USS <i>Cherokee</i> (1859)

The USS Cherokee was a 606-ton screw steam gunboat in the US Navy during the American Civil War ship. The ship later served in the Chilean Navy.

USS <i>Hibiscus</i>

USS Hibiscus (1864) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy towards the end of the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

USS <i>Ammonoosuc</i> (1864)

The USS Ammonoosuc was a steam frigate laid down by the Boston Navy Yard during the American Civil War and was launched, apparently without ceremony, on 21 July 1864. She was intended to be used against the British should England decide to take the side of the Confederate States of America and attack the Northern part of the United States. However, as the war progressed, England's support of the Confederacy diminished, and the fast and powerful Ammonoosuc was never placed into service.

USS <i>Neshaminy</i>

USS Neshaminy was a large and powerful 3,850-ton screw frigate with a length of 335 feet that was under construction at the Philadelphia Navy Yard when she was surveyed by Navy officials who found her construction work to be poor. Construction was halted by the Navy, which eventually sold her for scrap.

USS <i>Idaho</i> (1864)

USS Idaho (1864), a 3,241-ton steam sloop, was part of an American Civil War program of large, very fast, steam cruisers. Completed in May 1866, she ran her sea trials the following August, making just over eight knots. Her boilers and engines, ordered as a result of political influence, failed totally to achieve her 15-knot contract speed. The U.S. Congress, however, stepped in and ordered its purchase. The ship was then modified with sail and became one of the fastest ships in the U.S. Navy.

USS <i>California</i> (SP-249)

USS California (SP-249) was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I and outfitted as an armed section patrol vessel patroling New York waterways. Later, renamed the original name of Hauoli, it was assigned to Thomas A. Edison conducting underwater listening experiments related to antisubmarine warfare.

SS <i>Archimedes</i> First steamship driven by screw propeller

SS Archimedes was a steamship built in Britain in 1839. She was the world's first steamship to be driven successfully by a screw propeller.

<i>Calypso</i>-class corvette Type of Royal Navy ship

The Calypso class comprised two steam corvettes of the Royal Navy. Built for distant cruising in the heyday of the British Empire, they served with the fleet until the early twentieth century, when they became training ships. Remnants of both survive, after a fashion; HMS Calliope in the name of the naval reserve unit the ship once served, and HMS Calypso both in the name of a civilian charity and the more corporeal form of the hull, now awash in a cove off Newfoundland.

USS General Taylor was a small sidewheel steamer which served in the U.S. Navy from 1842 to 1852. Prior to her Navy service, she operated as a transport and supply vessel during the Second Seminole War.

Horace See American engineer

Horace See was an American mechanical engineer, marine engineer, naval architect, inventor, and superintendent. He is known as principal naval architect at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard in Philadelphia, and as president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in the year 1888–89.

<i>Evertsen</i>-class frigate Dutch class of steam frigates

The Evertsen class was a class of steam frigates of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The class comprised Evertsen and Zeeland

Kervan-i Bahri was a steam frigate of the Ottoman Navy that was built in the 1850s.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.