USS Independence (1814)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | USS Independence |
| Namesake: | Declaration of Independence |
| Builder: | Boston Navy Yard |
| Launched: | 22 June 1814 |
| Decommissioned: | 1822 |
| Refit: | Razeed, 1836 |
| Recommissioned: | 26 March 1837 |
| Decommissioned: | 3 November 1912 |
| Struck: | 3 September 1913 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ship of the line |
| Tonnage: | 2243 |
| Length: | 190 ft 9 in (58.14 m) |
| Beam: | 54 ft 7 in (16.64 m) |
| Draft: | 21 ft 3 in (6.48 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 790 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 90 × 32-pounder (15 kg) guns |
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.
Launched on 22 June 1814 in the Boston Navy Yard, she immediately took on guns and was stationed with frigate USS Constitution to protect the approaches to Boston Harbor. Flying the broad pennant of Commodore William Bainbridge, and under command of Captain William M. Crane, she led her squadron from Boston on 3 July 1815 to deal with piratical acts of the Barbary States against American merchant commerce.
Peace had been enforced by a squadron under Stephen Decatur by the time Independence arrived in the Mediterranean. But she led an impressive show of American naval might before Barbary ports that encouraged them to keep the peace treaties concluded. Having served adequate notice of rising U.S. seapower and added to the prestige of the Navy and the Nation, Independence returned to Newport, Rhode Island on 15 November 1815. She continued to wear the pennant of Commodore Bainbridge at Boston until 29 November 1819, then was flagship of Commodore John Shaw until placed in ordinary in 1822.
Independence remained in ordinary at Boston until 1836 when she was razeed (cut down to one covered fighting deck with poop and forecastle). She was rated down to 54 guns as her configuration gave way to that of a very large frigate. She proved to be one of the fastest and most powerful "frigates" of the Navy.
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Wikipedia