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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Despatch (III)

Screw Steamer:
  • US Navy purchased steamer SS America in November 1873, at New York
  • Commissioned, USS Despatch, 23 November 1873, LCDR. F. Rodgers in command.
  • Assigned to the North Atlantic Station in December 1873, at Key West
  • Reassigned to Washington Navy Yard, 24 April 1874
  • Sailed, 20 April 1877, to eastern Mediterranean on special assignment to the US EMbassy at Constantinople, Turkey
  • Decommissioned, 9 July 1879, at Washington Navy Yard
  • Recommissioned, 8 June 1880, as a practice ship for the Naval Academy
  • Decommissioned, 23 September to 19 October 1880
  • Operated principally in the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay and along the eastern coast from Norfolk to Maine until 1891
  • Surveyed Samana Bay and the Yuna River, Dominican Republic, 23 December to 3 June 1891
  • Final Disposition, wrecked during a gale, 10 October 1891, on Assateague Island off the Virginia coast
    Specifications:
    Displacement 560 t.
    Length 198'
    Beam 27'
    Draft 12' 4"
    Speed 12 kts.
    Complement 81
    Armament
    three 20-pdrs
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Tallapoosa 217k USS Despatch dressed in flags, date and location unknown.
    Photo courtesy Mariners Museum, Newport News, VA.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Tallapoosa 127k USS Despatch in an unidentified port with a small tug astern, 1873.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo # NH 54500    		 Mike Green
    Tallapoosa 892k USS Despatch, left and USS Tallapoosa, left, at Bar Harbor, ME., 10 September 1882, during the visit to Bar Harbor by then President Chester Arthur.
    Photo courtesy Maine Historical Preservation Commission.    		 Jonathan Eno
    Tallapoosa 117k USS Despatch underway in 1889 during a naval review, location unknown.
    Library of Congress photo # LC-D4-20347.    		 Mike Green
    Despatch 92k USS Despatch at the Norfolk Navy Yard, date unknown.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo # NH 54501    		 Mike Green
    Despatch 120k USS Despatch pierside with sails spread, date and location unknown.
    US National Archives, RG-19-A-31, Photo # 19-N-19-11-11 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 Mike Green
    Despatch 133k USS Despatch while assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron, date and location unknown.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo # NH 54503    		 Mike Green
    Tallapoosa 385k The wreck of USS Despatch on Assateague Island off the Virginia coast, October 1891
    Courtesy Mariners Museum, Newport News, VA.    		 Tommy Trampp
    USS Despatch (III)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 20 June 2014