USS Congress (1799)-- Part 5: Finished For the Quasi War with France

The Congress was given her name by George Washington  after a principle of the U.S. Constitution.  According to reports, her keel was laid down in 1795 at a shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (or close to it, Badger Island).

James Hackett was charged with her construction and Captain James Sever served as superintendent.  Construction proceeded slowly  and was completely suspended in 1796 when a peace treaty was signed with Algiers.  The Congress remained in shipyard, incomplete, until relations with France deteriorated in 1798 and the start of the Quasi War.

At the request of then-President John Adams, funds were approved 16 July to finish her construction.

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ARMAMENT

The Naval Act of 1794 had rated the Congress as 36-gun frigates, but, because of their larger size, upped to 38-guns.  However, ships of this era  had no permanent batteries as do more recent warships.  The cannons were completely portable and often exchanged between ships and stations as needed.

--Brock-Perry

The Super-Frigates of the U.S. Navy (or, the Original Six Frigates )

 Wikipedia.

In case you're wondering about these six frigates built as per the Naval Act of 1794, of which the USS Congress was one, here is a list of them, along with site built, guns, naval contractor and Navy superintendent:

CHESAPEAKE:  Gosport, Virginia (Norfolk, Va.), 44 guns, Josiah Fox, Richard Dale

CONSTITUTION:  Boston, Massachusetts,  44 guns, George Claghorn, Samuel Nicholson

PRESIDENT:  New York, New York, 44 guns,  Christian Bergh, Silas Talbot

UNITED STATES:  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,  44 guns, Joshua Humphreys,  John Barry

CONGRESS:  Portsmouth, New Hampshire,  36 guns, James Hackett,  James Sever

CONSTELLATION:  Baltimore, Maryland,  36,  David Stodder,  Thomas Truxton

--Brock-Perry

USS Congress (1799)-- Part 1: Built at Badger's Island, Portsmouth, N.H.

From Wikipedia.

The USS Congress was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the U.S. Navy.  Built by James Hackett in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Badger's Island.  She was launched 15 August 1799 and was one of the original six  frigates in the U.S. Navy authorized by the Naval Act of 1794.

The name Congress  was one of the ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering  in March 1795 for the six frigates to be constructed.

Joshua Humphreys, famed ship builder and naval contractor, designed these ships to be the young Navy's capital ships., so the Congress and her sister ships were designed  to be larger and more heavily armed than most frigates at the time (especially in the British fleet).  Essentially, they were Super-Frigates or, in the 20th century, heavy cruisers.

The USS Constitution was one of these six frigates.

A battle between them and a standard frigate would probably not go well for the regular frigate.

--Brock-Perry

Other Ships Named USS Portsmouth in the U.S. Navy

From Wikipedia.

**  USS Portsmouth (1843)  Sloop of War commissioned in 1844.  Active in the Mexican War and the Civil War.  Decommissioned in 18778, but continued use as a training ship until 1915.  20 guns.  Built at Portsmouth Naval Yard.

**  USS Portsmouth (CL-102), a Cleveland class light cruiser in service 1945 to 1949.  Built at Newport News, Virginia.

**  USS Portsmouth (SSN-707)  A Los Angeles class nuclear attack submarine commissioned in 1983 and decommissioned in 2004.

Built in Groton, Connecticut, but commissioning took place 1 October 1983 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in Kittery, Maine, just east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, her namesake city.

--Brock-Perry

USS Portsmouth (1798)

From Wikipedia.

The USS Portsmouth was the first ship (of four) in the U.S. Navy with that name.  It was constructed in 1798 by master shipbuilder James Hackett to the design of Josiah Fox at what is now Badger's Island, in Kittery, Maine,  directly across the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

She was built by funds contributed by the citizens of Portsmouth.  Quite a few ships built around that time were funded by private citizens.  It carried 24 guns.

Commanded by Captain Daniel McNeil, the Portsmouth operated in the West Indies during the Quasi War with France in the squadron commanded by Commodore John Barry.  In 1800, she sailed to France  to bring back the U.S. envoys who had concluded peace negotiations with France.

After a second cruise in the Caribbean, the Portsmouth was sold  less than three years later in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1801 because of the military cutbacks by the new Thomas Jefferson administration after the peace treaty with France was signed, ending the Quasi War.

So, the ship did not participate in the War of 1812.   But, many U.S. Navy officers did who went on to fame in the War of 1812.

--Brock-Perry

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine

I have been writing about this shipyard in Maine in my Tattooed On Your Soul: World War II blog.  During the 1900s, this place was very involved in the construction of submarines, but I also saw there were some ships with War of 1812 connections.

There were three American Revolution ships as well.

The USS Portsmouth, a 24-gun sloop of war was constructed with funds from the citizens of Portsmouth for use during the Quasi War with France in 1799 and sold in 1801.

The USS Congress was a 38-gun frigate was launched in 1799 and saw service in the Quasi War with France, First Barbary War, War of 1812, and Second Barbary War.  It was broken up in 1834.

The USS Washington was a 74-gun ship of the line launched in 1814.  Served until 1820 and broken up in 1843.

--Brock-Perry

Commodore Isaac Hull: American Hero-- Part 2: The Hat

He was commissioned a 4th Lt. in the U.S. Navy in 1798 and eventually assigned to the USS Constitution.

The Constitution was designed by Quaker Joshua Humphreys of Pennsylvania and was a state-of-the-art war machine when launched in 1797 as one of the first six U.S. Navy ships, all named by George Washington.

In 1799, Hull became second in command of the ship as 1st Lt and in 1806, became its captain.

In 1812, it narrowly escaped a British squadron and then attained a historic defeat of the British 38-gun frigate HMS Guerriere off Nova Scotia August 19th.  During the battle, the Constitution's 25-inch thick wooden sides caused the British shot to bounce off.  A sailor saw this and yelled, "Huzza!  Her sides are made of iron!"

After half an hour, the outgunned Guerriere was forced to surrender in the mismatched battle.  Its captain, James Daores had known Hull before the war and once in the same port had bet his hat that if the two ships weer ever to fight, that he'd win.  When the two met, Hull refused the traditional surrender sword, but did want his hat.

Hull and his men became instant heroes.  Afterwards, Hull was ordered to Portsmouth's Navy Yard in Kittery where he served for the rest of the war.

After the war, he settled in Philadelphia where he died Feb. 13, 1843, with his last words, "I Strike my flag."  The house he was born in no longer stands.

American hero.  --Brock-Perry