USS Warren (1776)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS Warren |
| Builder: | Sylvester Bowers |
| Launched: | 1776 |
| Struck: | 1779 |
| Fate: | Burned to prevent capture, August 1779 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Frigate |
| Length: | 132 ft 1 in (40.26 m) |
| Beam: | 34 ft 5 in (10.49 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 250 |
| Armament: |
• 12 × 18-pounder (5 kg) guns • 14 × 12-pounder (5 kg) guns • 8 × 9-pounder (2.7 kg) guns |
• 12 × 18-pounder (5 kg) guns
• 14 × 12-pounder (5 kg) guns
USS Warren was one of the 13 frigates authorized by the Continental Congress on 13 December 1775. With half her main armament being 18-pounders, Warren was more heavily armed than a typical 32-gun frigate of the period. She was named for Joseph Warren on 6 June 1776. Warren was burned to prevent capture in the ill-fated Penobscot Expedition in 1779.
Built at Providence, Rhode Island by Sylvester Bowers, Warren was probably one of the first two of the 13 frigates to be completed. The other was the Rhode Island-built frigate Providence. However, difficulties in manning the two ships and the British occupation of Newport, Rhode Island made the tricky task of getting the vessels out to sea doubly difficult.
Although the ship was bottled up in the Providence River, Commodore Esek Hopkins broke his pennant in Warren early in December of 1776. Hopkins was ordered to prepare for sea as soon as possible to cruise the upper half of the eastern seaboard to interdict British troop and logistics shipping traveling the Rhode Island to Virginia route. Hopkins' flagship nevertheless remained anchored in the Providence River for nearly a year afterward. As a result, Hopkins was suspended by the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress for his lethargic performance. Warren, blockaded in Narragansett Bay, did no cruising.
Aided by strong winds out of the north with masking snow, Warren, now under the command of Captain John B. Hopkins, finally slipped through the British blockade on 16 February 1778, taking minor damage from HMS Somerset and HMS Lark on her way out Narragansett Passage. Hopkins had orders to proceed to a free port, but the men were not dressed for the blizzard conditions so the captain headed to warmer southern waters and began hunting prizes on the open sea. Warren took two on her first cruise: within sight Bermuda she took the ship Neptune, bound from Whitehaven, England to Philadelphia with a cargo of provisions, and also took the snow Robert, heading for Bristol from Sint Eustatius on false Dutch papers, carrying flaxseed and fustic. The Continental frigate put into Boston on 23 March and prepared for another cruise to the West Indies but found manning the ship near-impossible. She finally conducted a second cruise off the eastern seaboard in the autumn, sailing for a time in company with the Massachusetts State Navy ship Tyrannicide in September.
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Wikipedia