USS Nantucket (IX-18)

USS Ranger at Algiers on 6 July 1913.
History
Name:	Ranger
Namesake:	Ranger: One who wanders; a military scout Rockport: The towns of Rockport, Indiana, Rockport, Maine, Rockport, Massachusetts, Rockport, Missouri, and Rockport, Texas. Nantucket: Nantucket Island
Builder:	Harlan & Hollingsworth; engines by John Roach & Sons
Laid down:	1873
Renamed:	Rockport (1917) Nantucket (1918)
Reclassified:	PG-23 (1920) IX-18 (1921)
Commissioned:	27 Nov 1876—14 Sep 1891 26 Aug 1892—26 Nov 1895 1 Nov 1899—11 Jun 1903 30 Mar 1905—21 Jun 1905 10 Aug 1908—12 Nov 1908
Struck:	30 November 1940
Fate:	Transferred to Maritime Commission for final disposition 11 November 1940 Scrapped 1958
General characteristics
Class and type:	Alert class gunboat
Displacement:	1,020
Length:	177 ft 4 in
Beam:	32 ft
Draft:	12 ft 9 in
Installed power:	1 × 560 ihp, 64 rpm compound back-acting steam engine
Propulsion:	1 × 12 ft diameter × 17.5 ft pitch propeller, auxiliary sails
Speed:	10 knots under steam
Complement:	138 officers and enlisted
Armament:	1 × 11" smoothbore 2 × 9" smoothbore 1 × 60-pounder

USS Ranger, later USS Rockport and USS Nantucket (PG-23/IX-18), was a gunboat of the United States Navy. A screw steamer with full-rig auxiliary sail, Ranger was destined for a very long 65-year career, serving first as a U.S. Navy gunboat from 1876 to 1920, and later as a training ship with the United States Merchant Marine Academy from 1920 to 1940.

The ship was finally scrapped in 1958, but her engine, which is the only one of its type known to be still in existence, was preserved and is on display at the American Merchant Marine Museum of Kings Point, New York.

Ranger was built by Harlan and Hollingsworth of Wilmington, Delaware. She was laid down in 1873 and launched in 1876.

Ranger's engine was designed by the Bureau of Steam Engineering and built by John Roach & Sons of Chester, Pennsylvania. The engine is of the compound back-acting type, with cylinders of 28½ and 42½ inches respectively, and a 42-inch stroke. The pistons, cylinder liners and bearings are constructed of bronze. At 64 rpm, the 560 ihp engine drove the ship at a speed of 10 knots. Four coal-burning Scotch boilers supplied steam at a pressure of 80 psi.

Ranger was commissioned at League Island Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27 November 1876, with Commander H. D. Manley in command. After completion of fitting out, Ranger was assigned to the Atlantic Station, but remained in the Gosport (Portsmouth) Navy Yard and Hampton Roads until 8 March 1877, when she was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet. Following a special fitting out for her new duty, Ranger left New York City 21 May 1877, arriving Hong Kong 24 August 1877, via Gibraltar, Suez Canal, and Malacca Straits. The ship served on the Asiatic Station until the fall of 1879, protecting American interests and national policy in the Far East.