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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Alligator (I)


Schooner-Gunboat:
  • Built as Gunboat No. 166 at Wilmington, N.C. in 1809 by Ames Perry as Gunboat No. 166
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Commissioned sometime in mid-1809, Master Commandant Joseph Tarbell in command
  • Gunboat No. 166 served on the coast of the Carolinas protecting coastal commerce
  • Named USS Alligator in 1812
  • At the mouth of the Stone River, S.C., 29 January 1814, Alligator was attacked by boats from two British ships
  • Alligator cut her cable, made sail and opened fire on the British boats, she lost two men killed and two wounded in the encounter
  • Alligator sank in July in Port Royal Sound during a heavy storm
  • Refloated, she resumed service until sold, 12 June 1815
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 80 t.
    Length 60' (on the gun deck)
    Beam 16'
    Depth of Hold 5'11"
    Draft unknown
    Speed 11 kts
    Complement 40
    Armament four guns
    Propulsion sail

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    Size Image Description Source
    Alligator 40k Sail plan of the United States Navy schooner USS Alligator.
    Unattributed, apparently from US National Archives - Scanned from Chappelle, Howard I., "The History of the American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development" New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1949, ISBN 1-56852-222-3, Plate XII, facing p. 201.
    Robert Hurst

    USS Alligator (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 21 April 2017