USS ''Preble'' was a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
sloop-of-war with 16 guns, built by the
Portsmouth Navy Yard
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard in Kittery on the southern boundary of Maine near the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Founded in 1800, PNS is U.S. Navy's oldest continuo ...
,
Kittery
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, Maine, Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The ...
, Maine, launched June 13, 1839 and commissioned in 1840. She was named after Commodore
Edward Preble
Edward Preble (August 15, 1761 – August 25, 1807) was a United States naval officer who served with great distinction during the 1st Barbary War, leading American attacks on the city of Tripoli and forming the officer corps that would la ...
(1761–1807).
Early Service
''Preble'' first sailed for
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
, and then went to cruise in the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
in 1843. She was attached to the
African Squadron
The Africa Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy that operated from 1819 to 1861 in the Blockade of Africa to suppress the slave trade along the coast of West Africa. However, the term was often ascribed generally to anti-slavery oper ...
in 1845. In 1846, ''Preble'' sailed for
New York and joined the
Pacific Squadron
The Pacific Squadron was part of the United States Navy squadron stationed in the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially with no United States ports in the Pacific, they operated out of storeships which provided naval s ...
on the West Coast of the United States, where she participated in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
.
Sail to East Asia
In 1848, Captain
James Glynn took her first to Hong Kong and then to
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...
, Japan, where she picked up some fourteen American and Hawaiian seamen who had become castaways in that
"closed country".
In November 1850, she returned to the east coast of the United States, where she became a practice ship for
midshipmen until 1857, when she was placed in ordinary service.
Civil War Service
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, in July 1861, ''Preble'' joined the
Gulf Blockading Squadron
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.
The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...
and participated to the
blockade
A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force.
A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...
of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
. She was posted at
Head of the Passes on the Mississippi River on 12 October 1861 when the blockading squadron there was attacked by a
Confederate States Navy
The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...
force that included the first
ironclad warship
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. Th ...
,
CSS ''Manassas''. Being a
sail-powered ship, she did not join the battle but rather made a swift retreat out the
Southwest Pass to safety in the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
.
''Preble'' was serving as a
guard ship
A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea.
Royal Navy
In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...
when, on 27 April 1863, while moored in Pensacola Bay off
Pensacola
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, she caught fire due to the carelessness of a crewman. She was abandoned and exploded.
References
*
Further reading
*Arnold, Bruce Makoto
Diplomacy Far Removed: A Reinterpretation of the U.S. Decision to Open Diplomatic Relations with Japan Unpublished Thesis. University of Arizona, May 2005.
Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collectionSenate executive document, 31st Congress, 1st session, no. 84
External links
with image of the Preble
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preble
Sloops of the United States Navy
Ships built in Kittery, Maine
Ships of the Union Navy
Mexican–American War ships of the United States
American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States
Shipwrecks of the Florida coast
Shipwrecks of the American Civil War
1839 ships
Maritime incidents in April 1863
Ship fires
Naval magazine explosions