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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Raritan (I)


Frigate:
  • Laid down in 1824 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard
  • Launched 13 June 1843
  • Commissioned the frigate USS Raritan in 1844, CAPT. Francis H. Gregory in command
  • Raritan cleared New York harbor, 20 February 1844 bound for the South Atlantic to serve as COMO. Daniel Turner's flagship until November 1845
  • During the War with Mexico Raritan was based at Pensacola and operated with the Home Squadron blockading the east coast of Mexico and supporting Army operations
  • Raritan as COMO. David Connor's flagship and the frigate Potomac landed 500 men at Point Isabel to reinforce that military depot in May 1846
  • Raritan participated in the landings at Vera Cruz in March; at Tuxpan in April; and at Tabasco in June 1847
  • Laid up at Norfolk, in ordinary during 1848
  • Re-activated in 1849, she served as flagship of the West Indies Squadron
  • Then as flagship for the Home Squadron
  • Transferred to the Pacific in 1859 to cruise between Panama and Cape Horn and as far west as the International Date Line
  • Raritan operated out of Valparaiso from June 1851 to October 1852
  • The Frigate returned to the US in 1852 and was laid up in ordinary at Norfolk
  • Raritan was destroyed, 20 April 1861, by Union forces as they evacuated the navy yard
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,726 t.
    Length 174'
    Beam 45'
    Depth of Hold 14' 4"
    Draft 22' 8"
    Speed 23 kts.
    Complement 480
    Armament
    four 8" guns
    eighteen 32-pdr guns
    twenty-two 42-pdr carronades
    Propulsion sail

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    Size Image Description Source
    Guerriere 128k Black and white photo of a lithograph by Martinet of the frigates Raritan and Constitution. From the Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hyde Park, New York.
    US Naval History an Heritage Command photo # NH 1731
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Guerriere 120k Black and white photo of a water color painting by an unknown artist of Raritan as the flagship of COMO. David Connor during the Mexican War. From the Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hyde Park, New York.
    US Naval History an Heritage Command photo # NH 2380
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Pennsylvania 155k Line engraving from Harper's Weekly, 1861 of Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA.. It depicts (from left to right) the ships:
    USS Pennsylvania,
    USS Columbia,
    USS Raritan and
    USS United States moored off the yard prior to their destruction on 20 April 1861.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 59559
    Robert Hurst

    USS Raritan (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 17 March 2017