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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Niagara (II)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Niagara-class Steam Screw Frigate:

Laid down, date unknown, at New York Navy Yard

Launched, 23 February 1855

Commissioned USS Niagara, 6 April 1857, CAPT. William L. Hudson in command.

Participated in the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable, between 1857 and 1858

Decommissioned at New York, 2 December 1857, after laying several hundred miles of cable westward from Ireland

Recommissioned, 24 February 1858, CAPT. William L. Hudson in command

USS Niagara successfully completed laying the cable ashore at Brills Mouth Island

Niagara next carried 200 Africans liberated from the slave brig Echo off Cuba by the brig USS Dolphin

Decommissioning at New York, 17 December 1858

Recommissioned, 14 May 1860, CAPT. William W. McKean in command

Assigned to carry Japan’s first diplomatic mission to the United States from Washington to New York, and then home, leaving New York 30 June 186o returning Boston 23 April 1861

During the Civil War USS Niagara was assigned to duty on the blockade of the southern ports at , Charleston, and at Mobile Bay

As flagship of Flag Officer McKean's East Gulf Blockading Squadron Niagara engaged Confederate defenses at Fort McRea, Pensacola, and Warrington 22 November 1861

Decommissioned, 16 June, 1862 at Boston for repairs

Recommissioned 14 October 1863, she steamed from New York 1 June 1864 to watch over Confederate warships then fitting out in Europe

Took steamer Georgia, a former Confederate warship in the Bay of Biscay, 15 August 1864

Niagara patrolled with the European Squadron through 29 August when she cleared Cadiz for Boston, arriving 20 September. There she decommissioned 28 September, remaining in the Boston Navy Yard until sold 6 May 1885

Specifications:
Displacement 5,540 t.
Length 328' 10"
Beam 55'
Draft 24'
Speed unknown
Complement 251

Armament

twelve 11" Dahlgren smooth bores

Propulsion Sail and Steam

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
	146k	Painting of the steam frigate USS Niagara depicting the ship in her original configuration. Artwork by Clary Ray. US Naval History & Heritage Command photo # NH 44507	Robert Hurst
	129k	Contemporary line engraving of USS Niagara in her original configuration, as she appeared prior to her 1862-1863 refit. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 44506-A	Robert Hurst
	130k	Line engraving of USS Niagara after a drawing by G.H. Andrews, published in the London Illustrated Times, June 1857, after the ship's arrival in England to participate in the first attempt to lay a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 65713	Robert Hurst
	177k	Line engraving of USS Niagara published in the Illustrated Times of London, 15 August 1857, depicting activity on board during the first attempt to lay a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 65735	Robert Hurst
	106k	Lithographic cover for a musical composition by A. Talexy, the "Atlantic Telegraph Polka" commemorating the successful laying of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. Published in Boston, MA., 1858. Its illustrations include a view of USS Niagaraleft and HMS Agamemnon beginning to lay the cable, a chart of the cable route, a depiction of the cable, and scenes of the U.S. Capitol Building and Windsor Castle. The cable's first message, from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan, was sent in August 1858, but it failed after a few weeks of operation. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 1589. Courtesy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936.	Robert Hurst
	91k	Pen & ink drawing by Samuel Wart Stanton, circa 1908, prepared in honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1858 laying of the first successful trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. The artwork features a depiction of USS Niagara right and HMS Agamemnon beginning to lay the cable in late July 1858. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 65487.	Robert Hurst
098600413	195k	One of eight hand colored lithographs published in 1861 of USS Niagara, HMS Valorous, HMS Gorgon (misspelled *Gordon) and HMS Agamemnon* laying the cable in 1857 at mid-ocean. Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, 1861 (New York: D.T. Valentine, 1861). Engraving by Sarony, Major and Knapp.	Robert Hurst
	153k	USS Niagara arriving at Yeddo, Japan, with the the Japanese Ambassador to the United States on board, 10 November 1860. Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, 1861. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59571	Robert Hurst
	131k	"Cutting Out of the Southern Schooner 'Aid,' off Mobile, by the Boats of the U. S. Steam Frigate Niagara, assisted by the U.S. Steamer Mount Vernon, June 5, 1861". Line engraving published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1861. USS Niagara in in the far distance beyond the foundering schooner *Aid. USS Mount Vernon* is in the right foreground. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Photo #: NH 59145	Robert Hurst
	375k	Line engraving "Cutter of "USS Niagara" USS Niagara (II) hit by a shell from CSS Ivy, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, 3 November 1861. Published in "The Soldier in our Civil War, Volume I, page 126". US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 58783	Tommy Trampp
098600412	250k	USS Niagara at anchor at her base in Europe. Antwerp, Belgium in 1864. From Antwerp *Niagara* prowled the English Channel looking for Confederate raiders and blockade runners. "Civil War Sea Battles", Chapter XVI, Page 209.	Tommy Trampp
	75k	*"View of Ship Island, Louisiana. -- By our Special Artist on Board the 'Sagamore"* Line engraving, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting several U.S. Navy ships anchored off the Federal base at Ship Island in early 1862. Ships are (from left to right) USS Winona, USS New London, USS Niagara, USS Sagamore, USS Wissahickon, and USS Massachusetts. Other features identified, in the center and right background, are Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island, the 9th Connecticut and 22nd Massachusetts Regiments and a military camp. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59009	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	93k	USS Niagara at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA, circa 1863, showing modifications made in 1862-1863. She was then under the command of CAPT. Thomas T. Craven, USN. The Bunker Hill Monument is in the left center distance. US Navy photo # NH 57980 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo by Black, Washington, D.C.	Robert Hurst
	113k	USS Niagara off Boston, MA., in 1863, showing modifications made in 1862-1863. US Navy photo # NH 75895 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command	Robert Hurst
	137k	The Tower of Belem, Lisbon Harbor, Portugal. Firing on USS Niagara and USS Sacramento, 28 March 1865. Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 13 May 1865, page 301. This incident resulted when *Niagara* was shifting her berth in the harbor and was briefly fired upon by the harbor fortification, on the presumption that she was trying to follow CSS Stonewall to sea before expiration of the 24-hour waiting period mandated by international law. Portugal later apologized for the incident US Navy photo # NH 59345	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	120k	Boston Navy Yard waterfront, about 1870. Ships laid up and housed over, on the right, are *Iowa* (ex-*Ammonoosuc, 1868-1888), inboard, and USS Niagara. On the stocks in left center, with sterns visible between and beyond the two shiphouses, are Connecticut* (ex-*Pompanoosuc), and Pennsylvania* (ex-Keywadin). The receiving ship USS Ohio (1838-1883) is in the middle distance. Donation of CAPT. Yancey S. Williams, USN, 1928. US Navy photo # NH 57982. from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command	Robert Hurst
	61k	Boston Navy Yard, waterfront, as seen from East Boston, circa 1876. Ships at left are USS Wabash, outboard, with USS Niagara housed over inboard of her. *Iowa* (ex-*Ammonoosuc) is inboard of Niagara* with only her four smokestacks and stern visible. The large ships on the building ways in the center and extreme right are *Connecticut* (ex-*Pompanoosuc) and Pennsylvania* (ex-*Keywadin). US Navy photo # NH 42470* from the US Naval History and Heritage Command, courtesy of National Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C.	Robert Hurst