USS Pocahontas (1852)
.jpg)
USS Pocahontas
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 
|
|
| Name: |
|
| Laid down: | 1852 |
| Acquired: | by purchase, 20 March 1855 |
| Commissioned: | 17 January 1856, as Despatch |
| Decommissioned: | 2 January 1859 |
| Renamed: | Pocahontas, 27 January 1860 |
| Recommissioned: | 19 March 1860 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 July 1865 |
| Fate: | Sold, 30 November 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Steamer |
| Displacement: | 558 long tons (567 t) |
| Length: | 169 ft 6 in (51.66 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine and sails |
| Armament: | 4 × 32-pounder guns, 1 × 10-pounder gun, 1 × 20-pounder Parrott rifle |
The first USS Pocahontas, a screw steamer built at Medford, Massachusetts in 1852 as City of Boston, and purchased by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts on 20 March 1855, was the first United States Navy ship to be named for Pocahontas, the Algonquian wife of Virginia colonist John Rolfe. She was originally commissioned as USS Despatch — the second U.S. Navy ship of that name — on 17 January 1856, with Lieutenant T. M. Crossan in command, and was recommissioned and renamed in 1860, seeing action in the American Civil War. As Pocahontas, one of her junior officers was Alfred Thayer Mahan, who would later achieve international fame as a military writer and theorist of naval power.
Despatch, carrying naval passengers and cargo, departed New York on 4 April for the Gulf of Mexico, returned on 12 June, and decommissioned on 4 July for installation of improved boilers and condensers. The ship was in custody of the U.S. Coast Survey Service from January–March 1857.
Recommissioned on 1 March 1858, Despatch departed New York on the 6th to cruise along the Gulf coast seeking ships attempting to smuggle slaves into the nation. She headed north in December, arriving Norfolk, Virginia on the 20th where, following a run to Washington, D.C. to tow USS Plymouth to Norfolk, she decommissioned on 2 January 1859.
Rebuilt at the Norfolk Navy Yard, the ship was enlarged to 694 long tons (705 t), reclassified a second-class sloop, renamed Pocahontas, the first U.S. Navy ship of that name, on 27 January 1860, and recommissioned on 19 March 1860, Commander S. F. Hazzard in command. The revitalized warship got under way for the Gulf on the 27th. Arriving Vera Cruz on 16 April, she joined the Home Squadron and cruised along the Mexican coast protecting American citizens and commerce and carrying diplomatic despatches.
...
Wikipedia