USS Albany (1846)

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Coordinates: 10°34′16″N 75°52′01″W / 10.571°N 75.867°W / 10.571; -75.867
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For other ships with the same name, see USS Albany.

Lithograph of USS Albany by Nathaniel Currier
History
United States
NameAlbany
NamesakeAlbany, New York
Builder
New York Navy Yard
Laid down1843
Launched27 June 1846
Commissioned6 November 1846
HomeportNaval Yard Warrington
FateLost at sea, last seen 28 or 29 September 1854
General characteristics
TypeSloop-of-war
Tons burthen1,042
Length147 ft 11 in (45.1 m) (p/p)
Beam38 ft 6 in (11.7 m)
Draft17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Sail planFull rigged
Speed13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement210 officers and enlisted men
Armament
  • 4 × 8 in (203 mm) shell guns
  • 18 × 32 pdr (15 kg) guns

USS Albany, the first United States Navy ship of that name,[1] was built in the 1840s for the US Navy. The ship was among the last of the wooden sloops powered by sail and saw extensive service in the Mexican War. Before and after her combat service, Albany conducted surveillance and observation missions throughout the Caribbean. In September 1854, during a journey along the coast of Venezuela, Albany was lost with all hands on 28 or 29 September 1854. Included among the 250 men lost were several sons and grandsons of politically prominent men.

Description and construction

Albany was one of a group of eight

tons burthen. The ship had a crew of 210 officers and enlisted men.[3] She could maintain a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).[4] Albany could mount up to four 8-inch (203 mm) shell guns and eighteen 32-pounder (15 kg) cannon. By 1853, she was armed with six 8-inch guns and sixteen 32-pounder cannon.[3]

The ship's

New York Navy Yard; she was launched on 27 June 1846, and commissioned on 6 November, with Captain Samuel Livingston Breese in command.[1] Her construction was accelerated so she would be complete for the impending war with Mexico. Although she could carry 22 guns, Albany sailed with only 20.[5]

Service history in war with Mexico

The sloop put to sea for her first cruise on 26 November 1846 and joined the

Anton Lizardo. Soon thereafter, however, she left the Mexican coast for an independent cruise to the vicinity of the Azores. Upon her return to the east coast of Mexico early in March, Albany guarded the transport anchorage at Isla Verde in preparation for General Winfield Scott's operations against Veracruz. During the 9 March amphibious action, Albany landed the reserve elements under Brigadier General David E. Twiggs. Because the Mexican leaders chose not to oppose the landings, Albany saw no combat. Later, on 22 March, the sloop of war sent one of her eight-inch shell guns and its crew ashore to assist in the siege of Veracruz.[1]

After Veracruz surrendered on 29 March, Albany moved to the next objective—

capture Tuxpan. Although Albany herself did not participate in the action, Breese and his landing party did. From 18 to 22 April, Breese's force moved up the river, engaged and captured two artillery batteries, destroyed fortifications and military equipment at Tuxpan, and then retired down the river to rejoin the squadron. When the American warships dispersed to various blockade stations along the eastern coast of Mexico, Albany and Reefer remained off the mouth of the Tuxpan River.[1]

During service on the blockade at various other points, Albany arrived off the mouth of the

Tabasco River by 13 June. As in the Tuxpan operation, members of her crew joined an inland expedition. The movement upriver began late in the first dog watch on 14 June. In two days, the American force ascended the river, disembarked the landing force, routed the defenders on the approaches to Tabasco, and captured the town. The Americans remained there until 22 July, when yellow fever and Mexican troops forced the evacuation of the town.[1]

Subsequently, Albany headed home for repairs. She left the Mexican coast on 11 July and arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 6 August. From there, she soon moved north to Boston where she completed her repairs on 27 September. On 10 October, the sloop of war put to sea to return to the Gulf of Mexico; she resumed blockade duty along the Mexican coast until March 1848, when she was sent to Venezuela to protect American citizens there during a highly volatile constitutional crisis.[1]

Midshipman controversy

With the Mexican–American War at an end, Albany began cruising the Caribbean-West Indies region. That duty lasted until 12 September 1848, when she returned to Norfolk.

midshipmen refused a direct order they considered demeaning: they had been ordered to light a candle to summon the relief attendant, a task generally assigned to a midshipman, not a passed midshipman. The commander, Victor M. Randolph, brought them up on charges, of which they were convicted and released from the Navy in November 1849, although all were reinstated a year later.[6]

Post-war cruises

Between 15 November 1848 and the latter part of 1853, the sloop made three more extended deployments in the Caribbean-West Indies area as a unit of the Home Squadron.

pro tem) of the Naval Yard Warrington, reported that an appropriate mast had been identified and was ready for Albany. During the replacement of the main mast, there was also some discussion of the condition of the fore mast. Apparently both were replaced.[9]

Last cruise

Initially, Gerry had instructions to sail to San Juan, Cartagena, and Aspinwall (now Colón, Panama), and Albany set out on 29 June. By 11 August, instructions ordered Gerry to pass along the coast and to investigate a suspicious ship lurking near Saint Thomas. Additional instructions, sent separately, told Gerry to continue patrolling the Windward Islands and Grand Turk.[9]

Inline with its instructions, Albany arrived in

Curacao on 7 September 1854, from La Guaira, Venezuela. She stayed in port for two days, and left on the morning of the 9th for Cartagena in Colombia, in what was then called New Granada. A letter from a Curacao correspondent of 19 September 1854 reported that all the crew were well. The sloop made an imposing appearance moored in the harbor and, upon leaving port, she saluted one of the forts with twenty-one guns, which was answered, and then saluted a Dutch ship, the corvette Palloo with eleven guns.[10] On 28 September, Commander Gerry sent a report updating his superiors on the cruise, dispatched from Aspinwall.[7] Albany departed Aspinwall, Colombia on 28–29 September 1854, intending to sail to New York. She was never seen again.[1]

By the November, reports circulated through coastal cities that there was much "uneasiness felt in Washington in relation to the sloop-of-war Albany," which had not been heard from since 28 September, when she left Aspinwall for New York.

Bay of Darien, into the Bay of Guatemala, and along the Mosquito Coast.[15] By January 1856, after an exhaustive search of 15 months, the ship was given up as lost.[16]

Family compensation

The Department of the Navy requested an inquiry into the loss, which was passed on to the appropriate Senate Committee.

Bonins, the Ladrones, and the Mariana islands.[18] By resolution of the Senate, a fund was provided for the widows and orphans of the officers, mariners, and seamen of both ships. Furthermore, the appropriate wages were paid to the families (including parents, brothers, or sisters) of the men lost, despite the loss of the account books of purser Nixon White.[19] In the case of Rowland Leach, the ship's carpenter, this amounted to $1559, including $779 for a year's gratuitous pay ordered by the Department of the Navy.[20]

James Thompson Gerry, last commander of USS Albany

Partial list of the lost

As of 30 June 1854, the crew of Albany consisted of 18 officers, 156 seaman, and 23 Marines. It is likely the ship's complement was little changed when she was lost three months later.[12] The crew included several sons and grandsons of prominent men: Commander James T. Gerry, youngest son of Elbridge Gerry, formerly Vice President of the United States, Lieutenant John Quincy Adams, grandson of the second president and nephew of the sixth, and Midshipman Bennet Israel Riley, son of Brevet General Bennet C. Riley, the former military governor of California during its statehood controversy.[21]

Commanders

  • Samuel Livingston Breese, 1846–47[22][23]
  • John Kelly, 1847–48[23]
  • Victor M. Randolf, 1848–1850[23]
  • Charles T. Platt, 1850–1852[23]
  • James Thompson Gerry, 1853–54[21][23]

See also

Notes and citations

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, USS Albany (1), Published:Fri Jun 12 06:40:54 EDT 2015. Accessed 3 November 2015
  2. ISBN 9781612517674
    .
  3. ^ a b Paul H. Silverstone. The Sailing Navy 1775–1854 Routledge, 2006, 0415978726 p. 42
  4. ^ USS Albany Association. Ship's Characteristics Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. 10/06/2014. Accessed 5 November 2015.
  5. ^ Thomas Berner, The Brooklyn Navy Yard, Arcadia, 1999, 9780738556956, pp. 21, 127
  6. ^ The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia, Volume 1, John McIntosh Kell, ABC-CLIO, 2011 9781598843385, p. 336
  7. ^ a b c Adelaide Rosalie Haasse, Index to United States documents relating to foreign affairs, 1828–1861, Volume 1, Main Mast Unseaworthy. Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1914.
  8. ^ "The United States". The Morning Chronicle. No. 26045. London. 22 May 1850.
  9. ^ a b c Haasse, p. 21.
  10. ^ Veritas. "The Dutch West Indies." Weekly Herald [New York, New York] [21 Oct. 1854]: 335. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. Web. 3 Nov. 2015. (subscription required)
  11. ^ "Multiple News Items." Bangor Daily Whig & Courier [Bangor, Maine] 13 Nov. 1854: n.p. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
  12. ^ a b The Weekly Herald (New York, New York), Saturday, 9 December 1854; Issue 49.
  13. ^ Boston Investigator (Boston, Massachusetts), Wednesday, 20 December 1854; Issue 34.
  14. ^ The Boston Daily Atlas (Boston, Massachusetts), Saturday, 3 March 1855; Issue 208. Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, District of Columbia), Monday, 5 March 1855; Issue 13,109.
  15. ^ Haasse, p. 558.
  16. ^ The Daily Cleveland Herald (Cleveland, Ohio), Tuesday, 8 January 1856; Issue 6.
  17. ^ Franklin Pierce, Correspondence with the Senate, To the Senate (re sloop-of-war Albany), 26 February 1855, Congressional Edition, Volume 745, p. 331.
  18. ^ Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, USS Porpoise (1836), Mon Aug 24 09:47:26 EDT 2015, Accessed 4 November 2015.
  19. ^ United States. Congress, John Cook Rives (ed), United States. Blair and Rives, 1856, p. 809.
  20. ^ See Probate Records, Rowland Leach (August 1855). Probate Records 1648–1924 page 5. (Middlesex County, Massachusetts); Author: Massachusetts. Probate Court (Middlesex County); Probate Place: Middlesex, Massachusetts.
  21. ^ a b Navy Casualty Reports, 1776–1941, Lost and Wrecked Ships, Explosions and Steam Casualties, p. 5, Fold3 12-003. Accessed 3 November 2015. (subscription required)
  22. ^ Spencer Tucker, Encyclopedia of Mexican American War: A Political, Social and Military history, ABC-CLIO, 2013, p. 88.
  23. ^ a b c d e USS Albany Association. Commanding Officers Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. 1999. Accessed 5 November 2015.

Additional information

  • Berner, Thomas F. The Brooklyn Navy Yard. Arcadia, 1999, 9780738556956
  • Kell, John McIntosh, The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, 2011. 9781598843385
  • Potter, E.B. Sea Power: A Naval History. Naval Institute Press, 15 Jun 2014. 9781612517674
  • Tucker, Spencer. Encyclopedia of Mexican American War: A Political, Social and Military history., ABC-CLIO, 2013.
  • USS Albany Association Inc. USS Albany Organization. Tallahassee, FL.

10°34′16″N 75°52′01″W / 10.571°N 75.867°W / 10.571; -75.867

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