USS Germantown (1846)
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | USS Germantown |
| Builder: | Philadelphia Navy Yard |
| Launched: | 22 August 1846 |
| Commissioned: | 9 March 1847 |
| Decommissioned: | 18 April 1860 |
| Fate: | Scuttled to prevent capture, 20 April 1861 |
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| Name: | CSS Germantown |
| In service: | June 1861 |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Sloop-of-war |
| Displacement: | 939 long tons (954 t) |
| Length: | 150 ft (46 m) |
| Beam: | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft 8 in (5.08 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Complement: | 210 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Germantown was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy.
Germantown was launched at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 22 August 1846; sponsored by Miss Lavinia Fanning Watson; because of damaging ice, transferred 18 December to Norfolk Navy Yard for fitting out; and commissioned 9 March 1847, Commander Franklin Buchanan in command.
Germantown departed Norfolk, Virginia on 15 March for service during the Mexican-American War with Commodore Matthew C. Perry's Home Squadron. Reaching Sacrificios Island 1 April, she stood off Alvarado the following day when that town surrendered "without firing a gun." She then sailed with the squadron to Tuxpan, which Perry described as the "only fortified place of importance situated on the gulf coast not in our possession." With the landing force of seamen and marines her detachment crossed the bar 18 April and successfully stormed the Mexican fortifications. As "a point of honor as well as duty," they reclaimed guns and ordnance stores, seized by the enemy from the wrecked brig USS Truxtun.
After cruising the coast of Lobos Island, Germantown furnished 130 men to assist in the second expedition against Tabasco. Between 13 and 16 June the force under Commodore Perry razed the defenses and occupied the town. During the next six months she cruised the Mexican coast from Vera Cruz to Tuxpan, blockading Mexican ports on the Gulf Coast; and between 9 August and 10 November she served as Commodore Perry's flagship. Returning to Sacrificios Island 8 January 1848, she took on board the remains of gallant American dead and departed for the United States 15 January. Steaming via Havana, Cuba she arrived Norfolk 16 February and decommissioned for repairs 25 February.
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