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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Germantown (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Sloop-of-War:

Laid down, date unknown at Philadelphia Navy Yard

Launched, 22 August 1846

Transferred, 18 December 1846, to Norfolk Navy Yard for fitting out

Commissioned USS Germantown, 9 March 1847, CDR. Franklin Buchanan in command

Germantown departed Norfolk 15 March for service during the Mexican War with COMO. M. C. Perry's Home Squadron.

Decommissioned, 25 February 1848, at Norfolk, VA.

Recommissioned, 8 April 1848, CDR Charles Lowndes in command

Decommissioned, 21 September 1848, at New York

Recommissioned, 23 December 1848, CDR. J. D. Knight in command

Assigned as flagship of COMO. E. A. F. Lavallette's African Squadron 10 January 1851

Seized American schooner Rachel P. Brown, 8 February 1853

Decommissioned, 9 April 1853, at Boston

Recommissioned, 23 November 1853, CDR. W. F. Lynch in command

Germantown sailed 3 December for service in COMO. W. D. Salter's Brazil Squadron

Decommissioned, 12 February 1857, at Hampton Roads

Recommissioned, 15 July 1857, CDR. R. L. Page in command

Departed Norfolk, 4 August 1857, to join Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall's East India Squadron

Decommissioned, 18 April 1860

Germantown was scuttled at Gosport Navy Yard, 20 April 1861, as Union forces evacuated Norfolk

Raised in June by Confederates, fitted her out as a floating battery to serve near Craney Island for the protection of Norfolk

Sunk an obstruction in the Elizabeth River shortly before evacuating Norfolk, 10 May 1862

Raised by Union forces, 22 April 1863, Germantown saw no further service

Final Disposition, hulk sold by auction at Norfolk 8 February 1864

Specifications:
Displacement 939 t.
Length 150'
Beam 36'
Depth 16' 8"
Draft unknown
Speed 11 Kts
Complement 210

Armament

eighteen 32-pdrs

four 8" guns

Propulsion sail

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
USS Germantown
	56k	USS Germantown sail plan. "The History of the American Sailing Navy: the Ships and their Development" Howard Chapelle, New York, Norton, 1949.	Tommy Trampp
	136k	USS Germantown ship's bell. Property of The Germantown Historical Society, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA, US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 68214. Courtesy of Captain Edmund A. Crenshaw, JR., USN 519 Pelham Road Germantown, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1969.	Robert Hurst
	207k	Sextant and long glass from the sloop USS Germantown. Property of The Germantown Historical Society, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA, US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 68213. Courtesy of Captain Edmund A. Crenshaw, JR., USN 519 Pelham Road Germantown, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1969.	Robert Hurst
	96k	During dredging operations at one of Norfolk Naval Shipyard slips during May 1999, a bronze cannon was brought to the surface. The cannon was identified as a 12-pounder bronze Dahlgren light boat howitzer Registry No.38, cast in Washington Navy Yard in 1854, Its marked weight is 431 pounds and its preponderance is 26 pounds. Its Washington Navy Yard foundry marking "BO" on the lower muzzle face indicates it was the 67th bronze boat howitzer cast there. The significant historic fact regarding this howitzer is that it was on board USS Germantown when she was burned at her moorings in order to avoid capture when Gosport Navy yard was seized by Confederate forces in April 1861. Source - "Wayne Stark's Register of Surviving Civil War Artillery",. US Navy photo.	Tommy Trampp
	190k	Model of the sloop USS Germantown. Property of The Germantown Historical Society, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA, US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 68212. Courtesy of Captain Edmund A. Crenshaw, JR., USN 519 Pelham Road Germantown, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1969.	Robert Hurst
CSS Germantown
	137k	Line engraving in the Harper's Weekly, 1862 of the floating battery CSS Germantown (ex-USS Germantown) and CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack) off Craney Island, VA., circa March-May 1862. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 58847	Robert Hurst

USS Germantown (I)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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Last Updated 2 September 2016