USS Constitution Goes to Washington Navy Yard-- Part 4: The Yard Goes Up in Flames, So Do the Ships

It was a good thing the USS Constitution was not at the Washington Navy Yard in August 1814, as we would not have her around today.  The Navy Yard burned, both by the Americans, preventing the British from capturing items and the British.

On August 24, 1814, with the British approaching, the commandant of the yard, Thomas Tingey, ordered the Yard torched.  As darkness fell that night, the nation's capital city was all aglow with flames, the Yard as well.

The Navy's storehouses burned as well as as the USS New York, USS Boston, USS General Greene, USS Argus and the almost completed frigate USS Columbia.

I have seen several sources who list the Argus as being burned at Washington Navy Yard, but, the only USS Argus I can find was a brig captured in 1813 by the HMS Frolic.  I have even listed it as one of the burned ships.  Perhaps the Navy was building a new USS Argus.

I can not find any more information on the USS Columbia.

--Brock-Perry

The USS Constitution Goes to Washington Navy Yard-- Part 2

Thomas Tingey was a former British naval officer who had served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolution and distinguished himself during the Quasi-War .  At Washington Navy Yard (WNY) he proved himself an able administrator and remained at that post from 1799 until his death in 1829.  His residence is now home of the Chief of Navy Operations.

During his long tenure, WNY turned into a nearly full-service facility just coming up short because it did not have a drydock.  In 1806, the sloop of war Wasp became the first of several 19th century warships built there.

Despite being an excellent facility, however, the competence of its workforce came into question when the frigate USS Chesapeake took six months to refit for recommissioning in 1807.  When she was finally ready to go this is when the Chesapeake/Leopard Affair took place when the ship was engaged by the British frigate HMS Leopard, boarded and four American sailors taking off.

This is one of the reasons for the War of 1812.

However, work on the USS Constitution, with the threat of war with Britain impending, went on quickly when it arrived for repairs March 5, 1812.

--Brock-Perry

The USS Constitution Goes to Washington-- Part 1

From the USS Constitution Museum 14 March 2018.   By David F. Winkler.

The USS Constitution was built in Boston and has spent most all of the last  120 years at the Charlestown Navy Yard, but there was a time it visited many U.S. navy yards.

The need for repairs and outfitting led the ship to Washington Navy Yard just before the War of 1812.  It was originally supposed to go to the yard in 1801 when President Thomas Jefferson wanted to decommission all of the Navy's frigates and maintain them in Washington as a cost-saving measure.

However, the Constitution remained in ordinary for two years and then saw duty in the Mediterranean at the outbreak of the first Barbary War.  By 1805, eight of the Navy's eleven frigates were at the Washington Navy yard, but the Constitution remained in the Mediterranean as the flagship, along with the USS Essex.  The USS Adams sailed the eastern U.S. seaboard.

The land for the Washington Navy Yard was originally acquired in 1799 by Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert and in the first decade of the 19th century was a work in progress with Thomas Tingey
 the first commandant.

--Brock-Perry

The Washington Navy Yard in the War of 1812-- Part 2: The "No Pen Can Describe the Appalling Sound"

As the British marched into Washington, holding the yard became an impossibility.  With smoke rising from the Capitol, Thomas Tingey ordered the yard burned to prevent capture of naval equipment and ships.

On August 30, 1814, Mary Stockton Hunter, an eyewitness to what happened next, wrote her sister:  "No pen can describe the appalling sound that our ears heard and the sight our eyes saw.  We could see everything clearly from the upper part of our house as plainly as if we had been in the Yard.

"All the vessels of war on fire- the immense quantity of dry timber, together with the houses and stores in flames produced an almost meridian brightness.  You  never saw a drawing room so brightly lighted as the whole city was that night."

--Brock-Perry

The Washington Navy Yard in the Early 1800s

From Wikipedia.

The land was purchased under an Act of Congress in 1799, and the Navy Yard was established in October of that year.  It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy and was built under the direction of Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy and supervised by  by the yard's first commandant, Thomas Tingey, who served in that capacity for 29 years.

The Navy Yard became the main shipbuilder of the U.S. Navy.  Twenty-two vessels were constructed there from small  70 foot gunboats to the 246-foot steam frigate USS Minnesota (which was at the Battles of Fort Fisher and the Battle of the Ironclads between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia during the Civil War).

The USS Constitution came to the yard in 1812 for a refit.

Good thing it wasn't there when the British came.

--Brock-Perry

Burning of Washington Navy Yard-- Part 2: Navy Yard Commander Thomas Tingey

From Greater Greater Washington  "Breakfast Links:  10 interesting facts about Navy Yard you probably didn't know"  Latisha Johnson.

6.  The entire Navy Yard complex was burned down (by Americans) in the War of 1812.

When the British thoroughly defeated American defenders at the Battle of Bladensburg outside of Washington, D.C. in 1814, they then entered the capital city.  The U.S. Secretary of the Navy ordered the Yard's commander, Thomas Tingey to set fire to the yard, and to three large ships being built there to prevent anything from falling into British hands.

He additionally ordered Tingey to save as much gunpowder as possible, but there wasn't enough manpower to do that.

Tingey had previously spent the last decade of his life overseeing the construction of the yard and to just destroy it like that didn't sit well with him, so he waited until the last possible moment, hoping the British could be beaten back.  They weren't stopped so he had to destroy his work.

--Brock-Perry

Commodore Thomas Tingey

From Wikipedia.

Born in London, England, and served in the British Navy. Unverified legend has him serving in the U.S. Continental Navy. He was commissioned a captain in September 1798 and served in the Quasi War with France commanding the USS Ganges.

In 1800, he was appointed to supervise construction of the new Washington Navy Yard.

--Brock-Perry

Commodore Thomas Tingey, Washington Navy Yard

From the August 10, 2010, Naval History Blog

Commodore Thomas Tingey had been commandant of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., since its founding in 1799. As the British approached the city in 1814, he correctly figured his yard would be a major target. Secretary of the Navy Jones ordered him to torch the yard, which he did.

The British entered the city August 25th and burned much of what Tingey had not.

It is estimated that the Washington Navy Yard suffered half a million dollars in losses.

And, Then There Were the Ships. --Brock-Perry