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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Wabash (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Wooden-hulled screw-frigate:
  • Laid down, 16 May 1854 at Philadelphia Navy Yard
  • Launched, 24 October 1855
  • Commissioned USS Wabash, 18 August 1856, CAPT. Frederick K. Engle in command
  • Upon commissioning USS Wabash was assigned as flagship of the Home Squadron
  • Decommissioned, 1 March 1858, at New York Navy Yard
  • Recommissioned, 25 May 1858, CAPT. Samuel Barren in command
  • USS Wabash was assigned as flagship of Mediterranean Squadron
  • Decommissioned, 20 December 1859, at New York Navy Yard
  • Recommissioned, 16 May 1861, CAPT. Samuel Mercer in command
  • USS Wabash was assigned as flagship of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron
  • Reassigned as flagship for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in September 1861
  • Reassigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in December 1864
  • Decommissioned, 14 February 1865, at Boston Navy Yard
  • Placed in ordinary from 1866 to 1869, overhauled in 1870 and 1871
  • Recommissioned, 24 October 1871, CAPT. Robert W. Shufeldt in command
  • USS Wabash was assigned as flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron
  • Decommissioned, 25 April 1874, at Boston Navy Yard
  • Placed in ordinary 1875
  • Served as a housed-over receiving ship from 1876 to 1912 at Boston Navy Yard
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 15 November 1912
  • Sold for scrapping, 15 November 1912, to Boston Iron and Metal Co., Boston MA.
  • Final Disposition, burned for scrapping, 26 June 1913, at Eastport, Maine
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4, 808 t.
    Length 301' 6"
    Beam 51' 4"
    Draft 23'
    Speed 9 Kts.
    Complement 477
    Armament
    two 10" Dahlgren smooth bore
    fourteen 8" Dahlgren smooth bore
    twenty-four 9" Dahlgren smooth bore
    Propulsion Sail and Steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Wabash 47k Wash drawing in grey tones by Clary Ray, circa 1900, showing the USS Wabash under steam and sail.
    US Navy photo #: NH 85568-KN (Color) from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Wabash 86k Color-tinted lithograph of USS Wabash by Major & Knapp, after a drawing by M.B. Woolsey, USN, published during the later 1850s.
    US Navy photo #: NH 44509-KN (Color) from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN(MC).    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Montgomery (III) 158k Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861, pages 456-457, depicting a large number of Navy ships off the New York Navy Yard, early in the Civil War. Vessels shown include (from left to right): USS Montgomery;
    USS Vandalia;
    USS Brandywine;
    USS North Carolina;
    USS Potomac;
    USS Savannah;
    USS R.R. Cuyler;
    USS Mount Vernon;
    USS Roanoke;
    USS Resolute
    and USS Wabash. A rowing launch is underway in the foreground.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59308    		 Bill Gonyo
    Maumee 94k "Bombardment of Fort Fisher" "Jan. 15th 1865"
    Lithograph after a drawing by T.F. Laycock, published by Endicott & Co., New York, 1865, depicting the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron bombarding Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in preparation for its capture. The print is dedicated to Commodore S.W. Godon, USN. Ships present, as named on the original print, are (from left to right in the main battle line):
    USS Tacony;
    USS Maumee;
    USS Ticonderoga;
    USS Shenandoah;
    USS Tuscarora;
    USS Juniata;
    USS Wabash;
    USS Susquehanna;
    USS Colorado;
    USS Minnesotaa;
    USS Brooklyn;
    USS New Ironsides and
    USS Mohican.
    Ships in the foreground are (left to right, from the center of the view):
    USS Powhatan;
    USS Mackinaw;
    USS Vanderbilt and
    USS Malvern (Flagship of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter).
    Monitors in the right middle distance are:
    USS Monadnock (with two turrets);
    USS Mahopac;
    USS Saugus and
    USS Canonicus.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # LC-USZ62-144 from the collections of the Library of Congress.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Wabash 69k USS Wabash photographed from the deck of the monitor USS Weehawken, in Port Royal harbor, South Carolina, 1863.
    US Navy photo #: NH 44510 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Wabash 85k USS Wabash photographed in the Mediterranean, probably at Villefranche, France, circa 1871-73.
    US Navy photo #: NH 44508 (Color) from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Company Archives, Skerritt Collection.     		US Naval Historical Center
    Wabash 61k USS Wabash photograph by E. Decand, Rue Pastorelli and Rue Paradis, Nice, France, circa 1871-73 when Wabash was flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron. Probably taken at Villefranche, France.
    US Navy photo #: NH 44511 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN(MC).    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Wabash 124k USS Wabash at anchor with her open deck roofed over while serving as receiving ship at Boston, probably in the late 1870's. Robert Hurst
    Wabash 50k USS Wabash while serving as receiving ship at the Boston Navy Yard, MA., sometime after 1876. Note that she has been partially housed over, but retains her masts and spars.
    US Navy photo #: NH 44514 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN(MC).    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Wabash 89k USS Wabash at Boston Navy Yard, while serving as receiving ship in 1885. She is berthed off the Timber Dock of the Boston Navy Yard. Note the gate to the dock at the bow of the ship.
    US Navy photo, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-14941    		 Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA 02129
    Wabash 183k USS Wabash at Boston Navy Yard, while serving as receiving ship, circa 1890s.
    US Navy photo, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-14574-4720.    		 Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA 02129
    Wabash 67k Winter view of USS Wabash at Boston Navy Yard, while serving as receiving ship, circa 1898-1899.
    US Navy photo, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-14957-89-2.    		 Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA 02129
    Wabash 81k USS Wabash at Boston Navy Yard, while serving as receiving ship, 15 May 1899. Construction of Dry Dock 2, which would replace the Timber Dock, has begun. As part of the work, Wabash would be moved to the east end of the yard's waterfront.
    US Navy photo, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-14574-401-6.    		 Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA 02129
    Wabash 164k USS Wabash serving as receiving ship at Charlestown (Boston Navy Yard), circa 1900.
    US Library of Congress photo # LC-D4-5589.    		 Mike Green
    Wabash 159k USS Wabash at Boston Navy Yard, while serving as receiving ship, circa 1910-1912.
    US Navy photo, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-8769    		 Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA 02129
    Wabash 119k USS Wabash at Boston Navy Yard, while serving as receiving ship, 4 July 1912.
    US Navy Bureau of Ships photo # 19-N-19-4-14, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-11621    		 Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA 02129
    Wabash 103k USS Wabash at Boston Navy Yard, while serving as receiving ship, circa 1910-1912.
    US Navy photo, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-14574    		 Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA 02129
    Wabash 251k Post card image of USS Wabash at Charlestown, Boston Navy Yard, while serving as receiving ship, circa 1910-1912. Tommy Trampp
    Wabash 56k Ex-USS Wabash at Eastport, Maine, where she was burned for scrap on 26 June 1913.
    US Navy photo #: NH 44513 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN(MC).    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Wabash (I)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval History and Heritage Command
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    Last Updated 16 November 2012