USS Ticonderoga (1814)

Hull of the Ticonderoga on display at Whitehall, N.Y.
History
United States
Name:	USS Ticonderoga
Builder:	Adam and Noah Brown
Laid down:	1814
Acquired:	by purchase, 1814
Commissioned:	12 May 1814
Fate:	Sold, 19 July 1825
General characteristics
Type:	Schooner
Displacement:	350 long tons (356 t)
Length:	120 ft (37 m)
Armament:	8 × 12-pounder guns 4 × 18-pounder guns 3 × 32-pounder carronades

The first USS Ticonderoga was a schooner in the United States Navy. Ticonderoga was built as a steamer in 1814 at Vergennes, Vermont. She was purchased by the Navy at Lake Champlain, converted to schooner rigging, and relaunched on 12 May 1814. She was the first of several U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name Ticonderoga.

Ticonderoga served with Captain Thomas Macdonough's squadron during the Battle of Plattsburgh on 11 September 1814. Commanded by Lt. Stephen Cassin, Ticonderoga compelled sloop HMS Finch (formerly USS Growler) to surrender after riddling her with shot and forcing her aground. She also assisted in the capture of sloop HMS Chubb (formerly USS Eagle), and repelled several boarding attempts by British gunboats. Midshipman Hiram Paulding was on board Ticonderoga during the battle and used his pistol to discharge a cannon when firing matches proved defective. During the two-and-one-half-hour engagement, six members of Ticonderoga's crew were killed, and six others were wounded.

After the war, Ticonderoga was laid up at Whitehall, New York. A decade later, she was pronounced unworthy of repair and sold at public sale on 19 July 1825.

She was rediscovered in 1958, raised and "salvaged" the next year; the wooden remains of this historic vessel are now on public display in Whitehall, New York.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.