USS United States

Career (US)
Name:	USS United States
Namesake:	United States of America[1]
Ordered:	27 March 1794[1]
Builder:	Joshua Humphreys
Cost:	$299,336[2]
Launched:	10 May 1797
Commissioned:	22February 1797
Nickname:	"Old Wagon"; "Old Waggon"
Fate:	Abandoned 20 April 1861
Career (CSA)
Name:	CSS United States
Acquired:	20 April 1861[1]
Fate:	Abandoned May 1862[1]
Career (US)
Name:	USS United States
Acquired:	May 1862[1]
Fate:	Broken up December 1866[1]
General characteristics
Class and type:	44-gun frigate[1]
Tons burthen:	1576 tons[1]
Length:	175 ft (53 m) between perpendiculars[1]
Beam:	43 ft 6 in (13.26 m)[1]
Draft:	20 ft (6.1 m) in the bow, 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) aft[1]
Decks:	Orlop, Berth, Gun, Spar
Sail plan:	40,000 sq ft (4,000 m2) of Sail (three masts, ship rig)[citation needed]
Speed:	11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph)[1]
Complement:	400 to 600 officers, enlisted personnel and 50 Marines
Armament:	32 × long 24 pounders (11 kg), 24 × 42 pounder (19 kg) carronades (War of 1812)

USS United States was the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. She was designed by naval architect Joshua Humphreys and built at a shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was named by George Washington and launched on 10 May 1797 and commissioned on 11 July 1798 with Captain John Barry in command.

In 1861 the United States was in port at Norfolk and was seized and subsequently commissioned into the Confederate States Navy as CSS United States, but was later scuttled by Confederate forces. Union forces raised the scuttled ship, and retained control of the ship until it was broken up in 1865.

Construction

During the 1790s American merchant vessels began to fall prey to Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean, most notably from Algiers. In order to combat this problem, the Naval Act of 1794 was passed.^[3] The act provided funds to construct six frigates however, included a clause that if peace terms were agreed to with Algiers, the construction of the ships would be halted.^[4]

Originally designated as "Frigate A" and subsequently named United States by President George Washington.^[5] her keel was laid down in 1795 at Joshua Humphreys' shipyard in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Humphreys was assigned as her constructor and US Navy Captain John Barry as superintendent.^[6]

She was the first American warship to be launched under the Naval Act of 1794,^[2] and the first ship of the United States Navy.^[6] She was fitted out at Philadelphia during the spring of 1798 and, on 3 July, was ordered to proceed to sea. At this time, relations with the French government had deteriorated, and the Quasi-War had commenced.

Quasi War

United States sailed in company with Delaware to Boston where they were to meet with Herald and Pickering to form a patrol squadron.^[7] Shortly afterward Barry sighted a frigate showing French colors. Raising his own French flag, Barry maneuvered closer towards the frigate and when reaching it, hoisted the American colors. As Barry was about to open fire on the frigate, she changed to the English flag and identified herself as HMS Thetis, narrowly avoiding being fired upon.^[2] Upon reaching Boston, Barry learned that Herald and Pickering were not ready to sail and he decided to continue without them. United States and Delaware departed for the West Indies on 26 July.^[8]

The ensuing two months would only result in the capture of two French privateers, Sans Pareil and Jalouse which were brought into New Castle, Delaware on 20 September.^[9][10] United States put to sea again on 17 October with orders to cruise along the New England coast and eastward. However, a severe gale arose the following day and United States was disabled with a sprung bowsprit and slackened rigging in which emergency repairs had to be made. After the storm had passed, she made her way back to Delaware, arriving there 9 November for repairs. Barry then received orders in December which returned United States to the West Indies, taking command of the American squadron there.^[9] This squadron, in addition to United States, would by early 1799 consist of, Constitution, George Washington, Merrimack, Portsmouth, Herald and the revenue cutters Pickering, Eagle, Scammel, and Diligence.^[11]

On 3 February 1799, United States sighted a French ship and began a five hour pursuit of the schooner L'Amour de la Patrie.^[12] After coming in close to the vessel, United States opened fire; the third shot went completely through L'Amour de la Patrie, sinking her rapidly. Barry sent out his boats to collect survivors of the schooner and they were taken as prisoners.^[13][14] United States then set a course for Guadaloupe to arrange a prisoner exchange with the French but Barry's flag of truce was ignored when shore batteries opened fire on the boat carrying Barry's envoy. Barry returned to United States and ordered his gun crews to bombard the batteries in return.^[15] On 26 February, United States pursued the French privateer Democrat which had recently taken prize of the English ship Cicero. Cicero was recaptured but the pursuit of Democrat ended when she escaped into shallow water. Returning to Guadaloupe, Barry made another attempt at a prisoner exchange however, Governor Desfourneax informed Barry that there were no prisoners held there as he did not consider that a war with the United States existed. Though skeptical of the Governors claims, Barry released the prisoners.^[16]

On 26 March, United States took the French privateer La Tartueffe^[12] and its prize, the American ship Vermont southeast of Antigua.^[1] Also recorded is the capture of Le Bonaparte sometime in 1799.^{[14][Note 1]} In April, Barry turned over command of the squadron to Thomas Truxtun; and United States sailed for home and arrived at New Castle, Delaware on 9 May. Barry set about recruiting new crew members to replace the ones whose enlistments had expired and United States underwent some refitting and repairs.^[17] She sailed again on 1 July with orders to patrol the southern Atlantic coast of the United States. Encountering a storm on the 6th which sprung her bowsprit, she continued on to deliver an artillery company to Fort Moultrie and then put into the Gosport Navy Yard for repairs on the 22nd. Returning to patrols on 13 August, United States experienced an uneventful period and at times sailing in company with George Washington and Insurgent.^[1][18]

United States returned to Newport, Rhode Island in September and Barry was instructed to wait for further orders.^[18] In October those orders were to deliver Oliver Ellsworth and William Davie as envoys to France where a settlement of the troubles between the two countries was hoped for.^[14] United States departed on 3 November^[19] and returned in April 1800. At this time she was in need of repairs requiring her to remain in port until December when Barry was ordered to return to the West Indies.^[20] The treaty of peace with France was ratified on 3 February 1801 and United States returned home in April.^[21][22] In accordance with an act of Congress passed on 3 March 1801 and signed by President John Adams, thirteen frigates then currently in service were to be retained. Seven of those frigates, including United States, were to be placed in ordinary.^[23] Ordered to the Washington Navy Yard, United States was decommissioned there along with Congress and New York.^[24][25] During the subsequent Barbary War, 1801–1805, United States remained in ordinary.^[25]

War of 1812

United States remained in the Potomac until 1809 when orders were given to ready her for active service. On 10 June 1810, the frigate, now under the command of Captain Stephen Decatur, Jr., who had been a midshipman aboard her first cruise, sailed to Norfolk, Virginia, for refitting.^[22] While she was at Norfolk, Captain John S. Carden of the Royal Navy, commander of the new British frigate HMS Macedonian, wagered Captain Decatur a beaver hat that his vessel would take United States if the two should ever meet in battle.

The United States declared war on the United Kingdom on 19 June 1812. United States, the frigate Congress, and the brig Argus joined Commodore John Rodgers' squadron at New York City and put to sea immediately, cruising off the east coast until the end of August.^[22] The squadron again sailed on 8 October 1812, this time from Boston. Three days later, after capturing Mandarin, United States parted company and continued to cruise eastward. At dawn, on 25 October, five hundred miles south of the Azores, lookouts on board United States reported seeing a sail 12 miles (19 km) to windward. As the ship rose over the horizon, Captain Decatur made out the familiar lines of HMS Macedonian.^[26]

United States vs Macedonian

Both ships were immediately cleared for action and commenced maneuvers at 0900. Captain Carden elected not to risk crossing the bows of United States to rake her, but chose instead to haul closer to the wind on a parallel course with the American vessel.^[26] For his part, Decatur intended to engage Macedonian from fairly long range, where his 24 pounders (11 kg) would have the advantage over the 18 pounders (8 kg) of the British, and then move in for the kill.

Naval Battle Between the United States & The Macedonian on Oct. 30, 1812 by Thomas Birch, 1813

The actual battle developed according to Decatur's plan. United States began the action at 0920 by firing an inaccurate broadside at Macedonian.^[26] This was answered immediately by the British vessel, bringing down a small spar of United States. Decatur's next broadside had better luck, as it destroyed Macedonian's mizzen top mast, letting her driver gaff fall and so giving the advantage in maneuver to the American frigate. United States next took up position off Macedonian's quarter and proceeded to riddle Macedonian with shot.^[26] By noon, Macedonian was a dismasted hulk and was forced to surrender.^[27] She had suffered 104 casualties as against 12 in United States, which emerged from the battle relatively unscathed.

The two ships lay alongside each other for over two weeks while Macedonian was repaired sufficiently to sail. United States and her prize entered New York Harbor on 4 December amid jubilation over the victory. Wherever they went, Captain Decatur and his crew were received with praise from both Congress and President James Madison.^[28]

Aftermath

Macedonian was subsequently purchased by the United States Navy, repaired, and placed in service. After repairs, United States -- accompanied by USS Macedonian and the sloop Hornet -- sailed from New York on 24 May 1813. On 1 June, the three vessels were driven into New London, Connecticut, by a powerful British squadron, and United States and Macedonian were kept blocked there until the end of the war. Hornet managed to slip through the blockade on 14 November 1814 and escaped to sea.^[28]

However, Decatur was transferred to the frigate President in the spring of 1814, and he took the officers and crew of United States with him to his new command.

Second Barbary War

After the end of the War of 1812, the American government turned its attention back to the Mediterranean Sea where Algiers had resumed preying upon American shipping while the United States was preoccupied by its recently concluded war with the UK. On 23 February 1815, President Madison requested that Congress declare war on Algiers; and it voted favorably on his recommendation on 2 March.

Work fitting out two American squadrons promptly began - one at Boston under Commodore William Bainbridge and one at New York under Commodore Steven Decatur, Jr. United States was assigned to the former but required, after being bottled up in port for the latter part of the War of 1812, some repairs and refitting. Thus, she was not ready for sea when Bainbridge departed Boston on 3 July.

Exactly two months later, the frigate, under the command of Captain John Shaw, departed that port and headed for the Mediterranean.^[29] When the frigate reached Gibraltar, Shaw learned that a treaty of peace with Algiers had been signed; but, since the Barbary states had made a habit of changing their minds when no longer under duress, it seemed prudent to keep an American squadron in the Mediterranean. Thus, after both Decatur and Bainbridge had sailed for home, United States remained behind, within easy reach of the North African coast and ready to remind Barbary rulers of their treaty commitments. The senior American naval officer in the region, Captain Shaw became commodore and commanded the squadron consisting of Constellation, Java, Erie and Ontario ^[29] until Commodore Isaac Chauncey arrived on 1 July 1816 and took overall command. Nevertheless, United States, despite losing her position as flagship, continued to serve in the Mediterranean until she sailed for home in the spring of 1819 and reached Hampton Roads on 18 May of that year. The frigate was decommissioned on 9 June 1819 and laid up at Norfolk.^[30]

Squadron duty

United States was commissioned 19 November 1823, and sailed 5 January 1824, from Norfolk, as the flagship of Commodore Isaac Hull, to relieve Commodore Charles Stewart in the Pacific. On her way out the frigate touched at Rio de Janeiro and reached Valparaiso, March 7. Commodore Hull found that Chilean independence had been acknowledged by Spain and hostilities had ceased, but the war was still in progress in Peru, Callao being held by the Spaniards and loosely blockaded by the Peruvian fleet. The Commodore, therefore, at once sailed for Callao, where he found Franklin and relieved Commodore Stewart, who sailed for home. The squadron which included the Vincennes, Peacock, and Dolphin, maintained a strict neutrality during the war, which dragged on for another year. Lieutenant John Percival, who was first lieutenant of United States during this cruise, was put in command of Dolphin at Callao and soon after sailed with her for a long cruise among the then little-known islands of the Pacific Archipelago.^[30]

She put into the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1828 for extensive repairs and remained there until 1830 when she was placed in ordinary at the New York Navy Yard. The frigate remained at New York through 1832 and was thoroughly modernized. She served in the Mediterranean Squadron from 1833 to 1838 and was deployed with the Home Squadron during 1839 and 1840.

After three years on the Pacific station the United States returned to New York April 23, 1827. On July 3, 1832, she sailed for New York under Capt. J. B. Nicholson to join Commodore Patterson's squadron in the Mediterranean, returning to New York December 11, 1834. From 1836 to 1838, under Capt. J. Wilkinson, the United States was again in the Mediterranean, and from 1839 to 1840 she was in the Home squadron under Captain Lawrence Kearney.^[30]

Herman Melville

Melville ca. 1860

United States was repaired at Norfolk in 1841 and was designated the new flagship of the Pacific Squadron in January 1842. She left Hampton Roads on 9 January, bound for the Pacific via Cape Horn. January 9, 1842, the old frigate sailed from Norfolk under Captain James Armstrong as the flagship of Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones' Pacific squadron. On the night of September 6, 1842, while lying in Callao, the British frigate HMS Dublin, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Thomas, appeared off the port, and, seeing the American fleet, at once put to sea. The suspicions of Commodore Jones were immediately aroused, and, having heard that war was about to be declared between the United States and Mexico, the Commodore suspected Dublin intended to run up the coast and take possession of California, a country that England had long had her eye upon. United States got under way, and in company with Cyane Jones hastened to the northward. They reached Monterey on October 16, and Jones immediately demanded the surrender of the place, hoisting the American flag over the town. But the next day. having satisfied himself that the United States and Mexico were still at peace, he made such amends as were possible for his hasty action.^[30]

Herman Melville, the future author of Moby-Dick, enlisted as an ordinary seaman on board United States at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 17 August 1843.^[31] His novel White-Jacket, published in 1850 is a fictionalized account of his experiences on board, highly critical of the captain of the United States and of naval customs in general.^[32] Melville observed that Armstrong often appeared on deck intoxicated.^[31] From Hawaii, United States proceeded to the Marquesas Islands and lost a man overboard en route. From the Marquesas she visited Valparaiso, Chile; Lima and Callao Peru.^[32]

United States remained at Callao for 10 weeks and the crew was denied shore leave while Catesby Jones was in port with his flagship Constellation.^[33] Catesby Jones inspected every ship under his command during the 10 weeks expecting formal ceremonies at each inspection. The only break in the crew's boredom came when United States challenged Constellation and the British ship HMS Vindictive to a race out of the harbor. United States handily defeated both of them.^[34]

Setting a course back home in mid 1844, United States arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for resupply.^[34] Departing on 24 August for Boston she challenged and won a race with the French sloop Coquette. United States arrived in Boston on 2 October^[35] and decommissioned there on the 14th.

She was recommissioned there on 18 May 1846 and was detailed to the African Squadron for duty helping to suppress the illicit slave trade. United States joined the Mediterranean Squadron in 1847 and served in European waters until ordered home late in 1848. She was decommissioned on 24 February 1849 and placed in ordinary at Norfolk.^[36]

In June, 1846, she went out to the coast of Africa under command of Captain J. Smoot as the flagship of Commodore George C. Read, returning to Norfolk, February 17, 1849.

Civil War

Norfolk Navy Yard burns

United States rotted away at Norfolk until 20 April 1861 when the navy yard was captured by Confederate troops. Before leaving the yard, Union fire crews failed to burn the vessel along with other abandoned ships, thinking it unnecessary to destroy the decayed relic. The Confederates, pressed for vessels in any kind of condition, thought otherwise and, after pumping her out, commissioned the frigate CSS United States (though they often called her Confederate States) on 29 April. On 15 June, she was ordered to be fitted out as a receiving ship and was provided with a deck battery of 19 guns for harbor defense.

In this role, she served her new owners well but was ordered sunk in the Elizabeth River, Virginia, to form an obstruction to Union vessels when the Confederates abandoned the navy yard in May 1862. The ancient timbers of the frigate were found to be so strong and well-preserved as to ruin one whole box of axes when attempts were made to scuttle her, and it was necessary to bore through the hull from inside before she settled to the muddy bottom of the river.

Shortly after the destruction of ironclad ram Virginia on 11 May 1862 and the surrender of the Norfolk Navy Yard to Union troops, United States was raised and towed to the yard by federal authorities. She remained there until March 1864, when the Bureau of Construction and Repair decided to break her up and sell the wood. This work was delayed until late 1865, when the Bureau ordered on 18 December that the gallant old frigate be docked at Norfolk and immediately broken up.

Notes

References

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

Bibliography

• Abbot, Willis J. (1896). The Naval History of the United States. 1. Peter Fenelon Collier. OCLC 3453791. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/22305. 
• Allen, Gardner W. (1909). Our Naval War With France. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. OCLC 1202325. http://books.google.com/books?id=-RkOAAAAIAAJ. 
• Cooper, James Fenimore (1856). History of the Navy of the United States of America. New York: Stringer & Townsend. OCLC 197401914. http://books.google.com/books?id=WK3mWOlYYNsC. 
• Hill, Frederic Stanhope (1905). Twenty-Six Historic Ships. The Knickerbocker Press. OCLC 1667284. http://books.google.com/books?id=aAMKAAAAIAAJ. 
• Rives, George Lockhart (1913). The United States and Mexico, 1821–1848. 1. New York: C. Scribner's Sons. OCLC 1615093. http://books.google.com/books?id=7-YBAAAAMAAJ. 
• Robertson–Lorant, Laurie (1998). Melville : a biography. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 1558491457. OCLC 246192980. 
• Toll, Ian W (2006). Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-05847-5. OCLC 70291925.