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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Perry (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Brigantine:
  • Laid down at Norfolk Navy Yard, date unknown
  • Launched in May 1843
  • Commissioned USS Perry, 13 October 1843, CDR. Samuel F. Du Pont USN in command
  • Perry's first mission from 3 December 1843 to 4 November 1844 was to retrieve Caleb Cushing, the first American Commissioner to China, from Macao and return him to the west coast of Mexico for an overland journey to Vera Cruz to catch a ship home
  • Perry continued her Pacific service by sailing to the Society Islands and the Marqueasa to help American whalers win respect and fair dealing
  • The brig arrived at Norfolk, 17 September 1845 and was decommissioned there, 25 September 1845
  • USS Perry recommissioned, 16 May 1846, three days after war was declared on Mexico, and sailed for the Gulf of Mexico to blockade Mexican ports
  • Dismasted in a hurricane while enroute and returned to Philadelphia for repairs, 4 December 1846
  • Perry departed Philadelphia, 16 May 1847, to join the Brazil Squadron protecting American interests between Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires
    Seized the American slavers barks Ann D. Richardson and Independence off Rio De Janeiro in December 1847
  • Decommissioned at Norfolk, 14 July 1849
  • Recommissioned, 17 November 1849, for service off the west coast of Africa to help suppress the slave trade
  • In ordinary at New York, 26 December 1851 to 27 April 1852, returning to duties off the west coast of Africa
  • Recommissioned, 20 March 1851 to April 1852
  • Perry participation in Commodore Perry's opening of Japan in July 1853 entering Tokyo Bay, 8 July 1853
  • Decommissioned, 20 July 1854, at Norfolk
  • Returned to in ordinary status until recommissioned, 21 January 1858 to participate in the Water Witch expedition to Paraguay using sea power where diplomacy had failed to earn respect for the United States, indemnity for the family of an American sailor killed and a commercial treaty advantageous to the United States
  • The brig returned to New York 5 June 1860 and decommissioned there, 15 June 1860
  • Recommissioned, 23 April 1861
  • During the Civil War USS Perry:
    Escorted three transports carrying some 3,000 troops to Annapolis where they landed, 25 June reinforce the 7th Infantry Regiment
    Reinforced forces around the Nation's threatened capital
    Joined the Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Hampton Roads, 18 May 1861
    Captured Confederate blockade runner Hannah M. near Cape Lookout, N.C., 31 May 1861
    The brig took Confederate privateer Savannah 3 June, 1861, turned two British ships away from the Southern coast before reaching her blockade station off the mouth of the St. Mary's River
    USS Perry returned to Washington Navy Yard for repairs, 21 July, 1861, served with the Potomac Squadron for rest of year capturing sloops, Blooming Youth and Ellen Jane
    Served at Aspinwall, Colombia from 15 May to 13 November 1862
    Decommissioned at New York, 3 January 1863, for repairs
    Perry recommissioned, 28 February 1863, taking station off New Inlet, N.C., capturing schooners Sue, 31 March and Alma, 1 May 1863
    After repairs at Boston Perry joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Port Royal, S. C. 15 November, 1863, participating in the siege of Charleston
    The brig sailed, 28 January 1864, to the blockade station off Fernandina, FL. where she remained until the end of the Civil War
  • USS Perry decommissioned at Philadelphia, 29 April, 1865
  • Sold at public auction there 10 August 1865
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 280 t.
    Length 105'
    Beam 25' 6"
    Draft 13' 2"
    Depth of Hold 12' 3"
    Complement 67
    Speed unknown
    Armament
    two 32-pdrs
    six 32-pdr carronades
    Propulsion sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Perry 94k
    Namesake

    Portrait in oils of Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, U.S.N (1785-1819) by Edward L. Mooney (1813-1887) after John Wesley Jarvis (1839). Painting in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum Collection. Transferred from the U.S. Naval Lyceum, 1892. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. Photo #: KN-2783.    		 Bill Gonyo/Robert Hurst
    Perry 111k USS Perry confronting the American slaver Martha off the coast of west Africa, 7 June 1850. Tommy Trampp
    Perry
    098654502    		 269k Black and white photo of a watercolor painting attributed to the artist Warren of USS Perry capturing the slaver Martha, 7 June 1850, off the coast of west Africa.
    U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command photo # USN 902981    		 Robert Hurst
    Saratoga 294k US Navy ships of the Japanese Squadron, established to promote free trade with Japan in 1852. From left to right:
    USS Susquehanna,
    USS Saratoga,
    USS St. Mary's,
    USS Supply,
    USS Plymouth,
    USS Perry,
    USS Mississippi and
    USS Princeton.
    From ~ The Archive of the Old Print Man ~ "Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion", Boston, 1852.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Perry
    098654504     		157k Painting by Fritz Müller, "Capture of the Savannah by the USS Perry, 1861".
    Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. United States National Gallery of Art. ID 50821.    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Perry (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 3 March 2023