USS Adirondack (1861)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | USS Adirondack |
| Namesake: | The Adirondack Mountains |
| Builder: | New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York |
| Laid down: | 1861 |
| Launched: | 22 February 1862 |
| Sponsored by: | Miss Mary Paulding |
| Commissioned: | 30 June 1862 |
| Out of service: | 23 August 1862 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 23 August 1862 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Screw sloop |
| Displacement: | 1,240 long tons (1,260 t) |
| Length: | 207 ft 1 in (63.12 m) |
| Beam: | 38 ft (12 m) |
| Draft: | 10 ft 2 in (3.10 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: | Sloop (auxiliary sials) |
| Speed: | 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h) |
| Complement: | 160 |
| Armament: | 2 × 11 in (280 mm) smoothbore guns, 4 × 32-pounder smoothbore guns, 2 × 24-pounder smoothbore guns, 1 × 12-pounder smoothbore gun |
The first USS Adirondack was a large and powerful screw-assisted sloop of war with heavy guns, contracted by the Union Navy early in the American Civil War. She was intended for use by the Union Navy as a warship in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways. Her career with the Navy proved to be short, yet active and historically important. USS Adirondack was one of four sister ships which included the Housatonic, Ossipee and Juniata.
Adirondack was built at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York. Her machinery, consisting of two 42 in (110 cm) cylinder, 30 in (76 cm) stroke horizontal back-acting steam engines and two Martin's patent boilers, powering a single 14 ft 3 in (4.34 m) screw propeller, was constructed by the Novelty Iron Works of New York City. The engines were fitted with a Sewall's tonface condenser and a distilling apparatus, capable of producing 300 US gal (1,100 l) of water in a 24-hour period.
Adirondack was laid down in 1861; launched on 22 February 1862; sponsored by Ms. Mary Paulding, a daughter of Flag Officer Hiram Paulding, the Commandant of the New York Navy Yard; named for the Adirondack Mountains, and commissioned on 30 June 1862, Commander Guert Gansevoort in command.
Although Adirondack was originally slated for duty in the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, events in the Bahamas changed her fate. Before she sailed for the Gulf of Mexico, news reached Washington, D.C. that the British-built screw steamer Oreto — later known as the CSS Florida — had arrived at the island of New Providence and, although constructed under the pretext of being a merchantman destined for service under the Italian Government, was in reality a cruiser which was then being fitted out as a Confederate commerce raider. Thus, on 11 July, Secretary of the Navy (SecNav) Gideon Welles ordered Gansevoort to proceed in Adirondack to the West Indies to investigate the report.
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