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John L. Porter
John Luke Porter (13 September 1813 – 4 December 1893) was a naval constructor for United States Navy and the Confederate States Navy. Early life Porter was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1813. His mother was Frances Pritchard, daughter of Captain William Pritchard, an officer of the Revolutionary War. He had four brothers, two of whom were in shipbuilding business. Porter learned the art of shipbuilding from his father. United States Navy In 1846 he was appointed acting constructor in United States Navy and superintended the building of the iron sloop-of-war USS ''Alleghany'' in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While in Pittsburgh he designed and submitted to the Navy Department plans and specifications for an ironclad warship, but his idea did not receive much attention in Washington. The ironclad warships were a new concept at this time and it wasn't until 1859 until the first ironclad battleship, '' Gloire'', was built by French Navy. After three years at Pittburg Porter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy as well as the most comprehensive. Located on the Elizabeth River, the yard is just a short distance upriver from its mouth at Hampton Roads. It was established as Gosport Shipyard in 1767. Destroyed during the American Revolutionary War, it was rebuilt and became home to the first operational drydock in the United States in the 1830s. Changing hands during the American Civil War, it served the Confederate States Navy until it was again destroyed in 1862, when it was given its current name. The shipyard was again rebuilt, and has continued operation through the present day. History British control The Gosport Shipyard was founded on November 1, 1767 by Andrew Sprowle on the western shore of the Elizabeth Ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1813 Births
Events January–March * January 18–January 23 – War of 1812: The Battle of Frenchtown is fought in modern-day Monroe, Michigan between the United States and a British and Native American alliance. * January 24 – The Philharmonic Society (later the Royal Philharmonic Society) is founded in London. * January 28 – Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice'' is published anonymously in London. * January 31 – The Assembly of the Year XIII is inaugurated in Buenos Aires. * February – War of 1812 in North America: General William Henry Harrison sends out an expedition to burn the British vessels at Fort Malden by going across Lake Erie via the Bass Islands in sleighs, but the ice is not hard enough, and the expedition returns. * February 3 – Argentine War of Independence: José de San Martín and his Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers gain a largely symbolic victory against a Spanish royalist army in the Battle of San Lorenzo. * Febru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cedar Grove Cemetery (Portsmouth, Virginia)
Cedar Grove Cemetery is a historic public cemetery located at Portsmouth, Virginia. It was established by an act of the Virginia General Assembly in 1832. The cemetery contains more than 400 graves with monuments dating from the late 1700s to the present. Its memorial markers include small tablets, ledger stones, obelisks, columnar monuments and mausoleums. They include notable examples of Greek Revival, Late Victorian, and Exotic Revival funerary art. an''Accompanying photo''/ref> It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Notable burials and monuments * Charles E. Cassell (1838–1916) – Architect and a founding member of the Baltimore Chapter of the American Institute of Architects * James Chisholm (1815–1855) – Episcopal priest who died helping the community through an epidemic of yellow fever, leaving behind a historic draft memoir * James W. Cooke (1812–1869) – Naval officer in the U.S. Navy and the Confederate Navy, overseer of the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval Medical Center Portsmouth are historic and active U.S. Navy facilities located in Portsmouth. History In 1620, the future site of Portsmouth was recognized as a suitable shipbuilding location by John Wood, a shipbuilder, who petitioned King James I of England for a land grant. The surrounding area was soon settled as a plantation community.City of Portsmouth, Virginia - History [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the principal city of the Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan area that includes New Hanover and Pender counties in southeastern North Carolina, which had a population of 301,284 at the 2020 census. Its historic downtown has a Riverwalk, developed as a tourist attraction in the late 20th century. In 2014, Wilmington's riverfront was ranked as the "Best American Riverfront" by readers of ''USA Today''. The National Trust for Historic Preservation selected Wilmington as one of its 2008 Dozen Distinctive Destinations. City residents live between the Cape Fear river and the Atlantic ocean, with four nearby beach communities just outside Wilmington: Fort Fisher, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Virginia##Location within the contiguous United States , pushpin_relief = yes , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , established_date = 1742 , , named_for = Richmond, United Kingdom , government_type = , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Levar Stoney ( D) , total_type = City , area_magnitude = 1 E8 , area_total_sq_mi = 62.57 , area_land_sq_mi = 59.92 , area_water_sq_mi = 2.65 , elevation_m = 50.7 , elevation_ft = 166.45 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, and the 94th-largest city in the nation. Norfolk holds a strategic position as the historical, urban, financial, and cultural center of the Hampton Roads region, which has more than 1.8 million inhabitants and is the thirty-third largest Metropolitan Statistical area in the United States. Officially known as ''Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA'', the Hampton Roads region is sometimes called "Tidewater" and "Coastal Virginia"/"COVA," although these are broader terms that also include Virginia's Eastern Shore and entire coastal plain. Named for the eponymous natural harbor at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Hampton Roads has ten cities, including Norfolk; seven counties in Virginia; and two counties in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confederate States
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confederacy comprised U.S. states that declared secession and warred against the United States during the American Civil War: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Kentucky and Missouri also declared secession and had full representation in the Confederate Congress, though their territory was largely controlled by Union forces. The Confederacy was formed on February 8, 1861, by seven slave states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. All seven were in the Deep South region of the United States, whose economy was heavily dependent upon agriculture—particularly cotton—and a plantation system that relied upon enslav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CSS Virginia
CSS ''Virginia'' was the first steam-powered ironclad warship built by the Confederate States Navy during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the razéed (cut down) original lower hull and engines of the scuttled steam frigate . ''Virginia'' was one of the participants in the Battle of Hampton Roads, opposing the Union's in March 1862. The battle is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between ironclads. USS ''Merrimack'' becomes CSS ''Virginia'' When the Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, one of the important federal military bases threatened was Gosport Navy Yard (now Norfolk Naval Shipyard) in Portsmouth, Virginia. Accordingly, orders were sent to destroy the base rather than allow it to fall into Confederate hands. On the afternoon of 17 April, the day Virginia seceded, Engineer in Chief B. F. Isherwood managed to get the frigate's engines lit. However, the previous ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ironclad
An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, , was launched by the French Navy in November 1859 - narrowly pre-empting the British Royal Navy. They were first used in warfare in 1862 during the American Civil War, when ironclads operated against wooden ships and, in a historic confrontation, against each other at the Battle of Hampton Roads in Virginia. Their performance demonstrated that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored ship of the line as the most powerful warship afloat. Ironclad gunboats became very successful in the American Civil War. Ironclads were designed for several uses, including as high seas battleships, long-range cruisers, and coastal defense ships. Rapid development of warship design in the late 19th century transformed the iro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USS Merrimack (1855)
USS ''Merrimack'', also improperly ''Merrimac'', was a steam frigate, best known as the hull upon which the ironclad warship CSS ''Virginia'' was constructed during the American Civil War. The CSS ''Virginia'' then took part in the Battle of Hampton Roads (also known as "the Battle of the ''Monitor'' and the ''Merrimack''") in the first engagement between ironclad warships. ''Merrimack'' was the first of six screw frigates (steam frigates powered by screw propellers) begun in 1854. Like others of her class (, , , and ), she was named after a river. The Merrimack originates in New Hampshire and flows through the town of Merrimac, Massachusetts, often considered an older spelling which has sometimes caused confusion of the name.Nelson, J. The Reign of Iron. 2004. History Creation ''Merrimack'' was launched by the Boston Navy Yard 15 June 1855, sponsored by Mary E. Simmons, and commissioned 20 February 1856, Captain Garrett J. Pendergrast in command. She was th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
