Other USS Fultons in U.S. Navy

From Wikipedia.

Besides the USS Demologos, there were other ships by the name of Fulton in the U.S. Navy.

USS FULTON  (1837)--  Sidewheel steamer launched in 1837, captured by Confederates  in 1861 and destroyed when they evacuated Pensacola, Florida, in 1862.  I'll be writing about this ship in my Running the Blockade blog later today.

USS FULTON  (AS-1)--  A submarine tender launched in 1914, reclassified as a gunboat (PG-49) in 1930, and decommissioned  in 1934.

USS FULTON (SP-247), a tugboat, converted into a patrol vessel in commission 1917-1919.

USS FULTON  (AS-11)    A Fulton-class submarine tender, launched in 1940 and struck in 1991.

--Brock-Perry

USS Fulton-- Part 3: A Dead-End in Naval Architecture

The Demologos had an entirely innovative and unique design.  It was actually a catamaran, with its paddlewheel between two hulls. that were 5 feet thick to protect against cannon fire.  It was capable of 5.5 knots an hour under favorable conditions and designed to carry thirty 32-pounder cannons with 24 along the sides and 6 fore and aft.  However, it never had the full amount as the Navy had trouble acquiring that man guns.  It was also fitted for two 100-pounder guns fore and aft, but they also were never mounted.

The design protected the paddlewheels from enemy fire and also allowed for easier placement of broadside guns.

However, with its hull the way it was, the Demologos was not suited for travel on the open seas.

The design eventually ended as a dead end in naval architecture, especially with the introduction  of the screw propeller. in the 1840s.

--Brock-Perry

USS Fulton-- Part 2: Just One Day of Service

On March 9, 1814, Congress authorized construction of a steam frigate to the design of Robert Fulton, a pioneer in the construction of steam ships.  Construction began in June at the civilian yard of famed shipbuilders Adam and Noah Brown in New York City and launched  October 29.

Delivered to the U.S. Navy in June 1816, but never formally named.  Fulton christened it the Demologos (or Demologus), but after his death, it was named the USS Fulton.

By the time of completion, the War of 1812 was over and she saw only one day of actual service when it carried President James Monroe on a tour of New York Harbor.

Its first commander, Captain David Porter (father of David Dixon Porter of Civil War and Fort Fisher fame and essentially a step father to David Glasgow Farragut) ordered a two-masted lateen rig built on the ship.  In 1821 its armament and machinery were removed and the remainder of its career spent in reserve.

After 1825, she became a floating barracks ship for the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Its end came on June 4, 1829 in a gunpowder explosion while at anchor.  An officer and 47 men were killed.

--Brock-Perry

The USS Fulton (United States Floating Battery Demologos): Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Last month I was writing a lot about Stephen Champlin's naval career and one of his commands was the steamer Robert Fulton during the 1838 Patriot War.  Initially, I had some confusion until I figured out that the USS Fulton and the steamer Robert Fulton were two different ships.

But the USS Fulton had a War of 1812 connection.  And then there was a second USS Fulton that had a Civil War connection.

This is about the first USS Fulton, originally named the Demologos, a steam driven catamaran-type U.S. Navy frigate.

The Demologos was the first warship to be propelled by a steam engine and built to defend New York City from the Royal Navy during the War of 1812.  It was based on a design by inventor Robert Fulton and was renamed the USS Fulton after his death.  Because the war was over soon after it was built, it never saw action.  No other ship built by the U.S. Navy was anything like it.

Stats:  Laid down 1814,  Commissioned 1816.  Blown up 1829.

153.2 feet long.  58 foot beam.    Regarded as a steam battery.   Thirty  32-pdr. cannons  Two 100-pdr Columbiads

It was armored with five foot thick wooden planking.  It had two hulls with the paddle wheel between them.

--Brock-Perry

Launched of the Steam Frigate USS Fulton (Demologos)

OCTOBER 16, 1814,  Launch of the frigate USS Fulton the First, in New York.  Originally named Demologos, but renamed the Fulton after Robert Fulton's death on February 24, 1815.

Robert Fulton was commissioned to apply his engineering skills and expertise to the defense of that place an New Yorkers believed their harbor was inadequately protected.  He designed a 150-foot long steam frigate/floating fort and Congress authorized its construction in March 1814 at a cost of $320,000.

--Brock-Perry