HMS/USS Detroit-- Part 2: Essentially a Hulk After the Battle of Lake Erie

It was classified as a corvette and was originally planned for twenty 24-pdr. carronades but those cannons were captured when the Americans attacked York, Upper Canada.  As a result, the HMS Detroit was armed with an assortment of guns, some taken from British Fort Amherstburg.

Many of these were long guns, which could fire further than carronades, but were lighter shot.  This made an initial big difference in the Battle of Lake Erie.

After their capture at the battle, the badly damaged Detroit and HMS Queen Charlotte were used as hospital ships.  A gale struck a few days later, further damaging the ships.  After the wounded were taken off, the two British ships were essentially nothing more than hulks.


They were taken to Put-In-Bay to prevent sinking.  In May 1814, the USS Ohio assisted in fitting out the two ships at Put-In-Bay and then convoyed them to Erie, Pennsylvania where they were laid up until sold in 1825.

--Brock-Perry

USS Porcupine-- Part 2: More Service Afterwards

The USS Porcupine was anchored at the head of the Niagara River 12 August 1814, along with the USS Ohio and USS Somers, when they were attacked by 6 or 8 boats manned with English seamen and Canadian militia.  The other two were captured, but the Porcupine escaped.

It remained in Lake Erie providing transportation and support William Henry Harrison's army at the battle to recover Detroit and the Battle of the Thames.  It was still commanded by George Senat when it transported supplies to Harrison's Army to the north of the Thames and went up the Thames to provide artillery and logistics support.

It was laid up in Erie, Pennsylvania, until 1819, when it was refitted and turned over to the Collector of Revenue at Detroit 2 June.

Returned to the Navy 2 August 1821, it remained inactive until sold 8 August 1825.  Afterwards it served as a cargo vessel on the Great Lakes until it was determined to be unseaworthy and beached on the sand at Spring Lake near Grand Haven, Michigan.

--Brock-Perry

Thomas Macdonough After the Battle of Lake Champlain-- Part 2

Macdonough's next assignment was to relieve Isaac Hull at the Portsmouth Navy Yard 1815-1818 and after that he was appointed commander of the 44-gun frigate USS Guerriere (the former HMS Guerriere captured by Hull and the USS Constitution in 1812).

From 1818 to 1823, he was captain of the ship-of-the-line USS Ohio.

In 1824, he became commander of the USS Constitution, but by then his health had begun to fail and he died while overseas and his body was returned to the United States and buried at Middletown, Connecticut.

--Brock-Perry

USS Ohio (1812) Schooner

From Wikipedia.

The USS Ohio was a merchant schooner acquired by the U.S. Navy and converted into a warship in 1812 and commissioned in 1813.  It served in the Lake Erie squadron commanded by Captain Oliver Hazard Perry.  (82 tons, 35 men, one 24-pdr. cannon)

Once commissioned, it and four other purchased ships were  delayed from entering lake Erie by a British blockade at Black Rock which was finally broken by a joint Army-Navy operation.  They joined the other American ships being built at Presque Isle Bay at Erie, Pennsylvania.on July 8, 1813,

It was off collecting food and did not participate at the famous American victory at the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813.

In 1814, it was patrolling between Long point and Erie and in May assisted in fitting out captured prizes Detroit and Queen Charlotte at Put-in-Bay before convoying them to Erie.

On August 12, 2014, 200 years ago today, it was captured along with the USS Somers within pistol-shot of American-held Fort Erie.  It became the Huron in British service.

--Brock-Perry

USS Ohio and USS Somers Captured by British

AUGUST 12TH, 1814: 200 years ago.  The USS Ohio and Somers were captured by the British on Lake Erie, near Fort Erie, Upper Canada.

During the British siege of the American-occupied Fort Erie, Royal Navy Captain Alexander Dobbs, commanding seventy sailors and marines, rowed out to three U.S. armed schooners anchored near the fort.

Masquerading as supply boats, the British surprised, boarded and seized the USS Somers and Ohio, but the USS Porcupine escaped.

The vessels were renamed the Huron and Sauk when taken into British service.  Their captures were a welcome addition to the British Lake Erie fleet and it impacted American morale at Fort Erie.
This action was the last one on lake Erie for the war.

--Brock-Perry

British Begin Siege of Fort Erie

AUGUST 3RD, 1814:  After the Battle of Lundy's Lane, the Americans retreated to Fort Erie, Upper Canada.

Brigadier General Edmund Gaines took over command of the fort from General Jacob Brown who was badly wounded at the Battle of Lundy's Lane.  The British army, under Lieutenant-Governor Gordon Drummond took time to reorganize after the bloody battle and gave the Americans time to strengthen their defenses.

Drummond arrived at Fort Erie on 3 August, and began to build siege lines.  On the night of Agust 12th, British sailors and marines captured the USS Somers and USS Ohio, who weer supporting the fort from the Niagara River.

British forces opened fire on Fort Erie on August 13th, but it was found that their lines were too far away to be very effective.

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Ships-of-the-Line: USS Ohio, USS North Carolina

USS OHIO-- Built in Brooklyn Naval Yard. Laid down in 1817 and launched in 1820. Recommissioned for Mexican War. In ordinary in Boston, then receiving ship until 1875 and then sold.

USS NORTH CAROLINA-- Laid down in 1818 in Philadelphia Navy Yard. Commissioned 1824 and decommissioned 1867. Served as receiving ship in New York City.

Well, we had them, but they really didn't accomplish too much.

This finishes U.S. Ships-of-the-Line.

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Naval Power Grew to Match Mercantile Ambition-- Part 2: U.S. Ships-of-the-Line

From 1813-1820, a major naval building program was underway, but it was dropped to save money. The ship-of-the-Line USS Ohio was launched in 1820 but sat decaying in 1826. British officer Frederich de Roos wrote of her in 1826, "A more splendid ship I never beheld. She is already falling rapidly into decay."

The USS Pennsylvania, SOL, was built in Philadelphia though its hull never touched water for many years. It had been designed originally to be the largest fighting ship possessed by any nation.

By 1830, the United States had the second-largest merchant fleet and these ships needed protection. The USS Pennsylvania was finally launched. By the 1840s, the U.S. Navy was the strongest it had ever been, but the navies of France and Britain were still a whole lot larger. In 1846, the tonnage of British ships under construction was triple that of the whole American fleet.

--Brock-Perry