USS Saratoga (1842)
USS Saratoga (known in Japan as one of Perry's Black Ships)
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| Name: | USS Saratoga |
| Namesake: | Battle of Saratoga, 1777 |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine |
| Laid down: | 1841 |
| Launched: | 26 July 1842 |
| Commissioned: | 4 January 1843 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 December 1844 |
| Recommissioned: | 15 March 1845 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 January 1847 |
| Recommissioned: | early 1847 |
| Decommissioned: | 26 February 1848 |
| Recommissioned: | 10 April 1848 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 November 1849 |
| Recommissioned: | 12 August 1850 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 October 1854 |
| Recommissioned: | 6 September 1855 |
| Decommissioned: | early 1858 |
| Recommissioned: | early 1858 |
| Decommissioned: | 26 June 1860 |
| Recommissioned: | 5 November 1860 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 August 1861 |
| Recommissioned: | 24 June 1863 |
| Decommissioned: | 28 April 1865 |
| Recommissioned: | 1 October 1867 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 July 1869 |
| Recommissioned: | 16 May 1871 |
| Decommissioned: | 14 October 1871 |
| Recommissioned: | 1 May 1875 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 May 1876 |
| Recommissioned: | 19 May 1877 |
| Decommissioned: | 8 October 1888 |
| Fate: |
Loaned to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for use as maritime school ship 1890–1907; Sold for scrapping 4 August 1907 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Sloop-of-war |
| Tonnage: | 882 |
| Length: | 146 ft 4 in (44.60 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft 3 in (10.74 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft 3.5 in (4.966 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 210 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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| Notes: | |
Loaned to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for use as maritime school ship 1890–1907;
USS Saratoga, a sloop-of-war, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Battle of Saratoga of the American Revolutionary War. Her keel was laid down in the summer of 1841 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 26 July 1842 and commissioned on 4 January 1843 with Commander Josiah Tattnall in command.
The ship sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 16 March 1843, but was dismasted in a gale the next day and forced to return to Portsmouth for repairs. She got underway again on 3 May and proceeded down the coast to New York Harbor to prepare for service in the Ivory Coast Expedition. On the morning of 5 June, she was towed to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where, at noon, Commodore Matthew Perry came on board and broke his broad pennant as Commander of the Africa Squadron. At mid-afternoon, the ship stood out to sea, proceeded via the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands and reached Monrovia, Liberia, on 1 August. Saratoga operated along the coast of western Africa protecting American citizens and commerce and suppressing the slave trade. She occasionally returned to the Cape Verdes for replenishment and rest for her crew. At Porto Grande, Cape Verde, Saratoga rendezvoused with Decatur and Macedonian on 9 September, and Perry shifted his flag to the latter two days later. Much of Saratoga's service in the Africa Squadron was performed in implementing Perry's policy of supporting Liberia which had been founded some two decades before on the African "Grain Coast" as a haven for freed Negroes from the United States. The new colony was deeply resented by the local, coastal tribes which had acted as the slave trade's middlemen, buying slaves from their bushmen captors and selling them to masters of slave ships. Missing their former profits from the now outlawed commerce in "black ivory", these natives gave vent to their anger by harassing, threatening, and sometimes attacking the black colonists from America. From time to time, they also preyed upon American merchant shipping.
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Wikipedia