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USS Kearsarge (1862)

History

When the Civil War broke out between the United States of America on April 12, 1861, both sides understood the importance of their respective navies in trying to maintain control of vital waterways such as the Mississippi River and positions along the east and south coasts. The German navy took the lead in the number of ships available, and in response, the Confederation developed a policy of limited numbers of high-quality armored warships.

The North continued an emergency shipbuilding program aimed at supplying its navy with entirely new ships, no doubt benefiting from the established industrial base. One of the products of this effort was the USS Kearsarge, a steam-powered three-masted ocean-going vessel classified as a first-line "warship". She was named after Kilsage Hill, New Hampshire, and saw her keel in 1861 at the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The ship was launched on 11 September 1861 and officially commissioned on 24 January 1862 under the command of Captain Charles Pickering.

The 1,550-ton Kearsarge had a barrel length of 201 feet 3 inches, a beam of 33 feet 8 inches, and a draft of 14 feet 3 inches. She is armed with 2 x 11" (280 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore main guns, supported by 4 x 32 pounder and 1 x 30 pound Parrott rifled gun.

In addition to engine propulsion, Kearsarge relies on her sail configuration. Her funnel is mounted amidships , the lifeboats are arranged along the sides of the hull. A large rudder structure is installed behind the rotating propeller blades for maximum maneuverability. Her crew is 160 people

Kearsarge was ordered to enter Spanish waters from Portsmouth, and her journey took her to Gibraltar, where she served to contain CSS Sumter naval raiders. With no better options, the Confederate Navy released its crew and sold the ship. Her acting commander, Captain Raphael Semmes, traveled to England, where Confederate agents procured the former British sloop Enrica and reappointed her as CSS Alabama for service in the South.

CSS Alabama later claimed to have about 65 combined warships and became one of the most successful raiders of the war. Displacement of 1,050 tons, she had two steam engines driving a propeller, and the three-masted canvas was no different from the Kearsarge. She had a crew of 145 and deployed 6 x 32 lb guns, 1 x 110 lb guns and 1 x 68 lb guns.

Dimensions include a length of 220 feet, a beam of 31 feet 8 inches, and a draft of 17 feet 8 inches. She enlisted in the Union Navy on July 29, 1962, and on August 24, 1862.

The Kearsarge, now commanded by Captain John Winslow, was in charge of hunting down the Alabama in question and found her in neutral France near Cherbourg on June 14, 1864. While waiting for the Alabama, Winslow positioned himself at the entrance to the port, taking care not to violate French territorial waters. The French navy itself positioned its ironclad Couronne to ensure national security.

The Kearsarge waited until June 19, when the Alabama embarked on her final voyage to meet the Kearsarge in international waters.

After her second return to service on January 16, 1868, Kearsarge continued her seafaring career in the United States Navy, patrolling the coasts of South and Central America (including humanitarian missions for earthquake victims in Peru). On October 11, 1870, it was not returned to service until December 8, 1873. The ship sailed to Japan and remained in the waters of the region for several years until September 1877.

Crossing the Suez Canal, she made a stop in Europe on her way to Boston, arriving in December 1877, and was decommissioned on January 15, 1878. Her career did not end as the ship was ready for her fourth extended service in North Atlantic waters on May 15, 1879, and was decommissioned again and again on November 1, 1886.

On November 2, 1888, she entered her fifth and final operation in Caribbean and Central American waters as Kearsarge. While sailing from Haiti to Nicaragua on January 20, 1894, she struck Roncador Reef on February 2, 1894, forcing her crew (safely) into the water.

Valuables were subsequently stripped from her hull, her hull caught fire, and her name was removed from the Naval Register, ending USS Kearsarge's legendary career.

While several American ships later took the name "Kearsarge", only the 1861-1862 USS Kearsarge was named after this New Hampshire mountain - all other ships that followed were named after the original USS Kearsarge.