USS ''Potomac'' was a

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

in the

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 ...

laid down by the

Washington Navy Yard The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy. The Yard currently serves as a ceremonial and administrativ ...

in August 1819 and launched in March 1822. Fitting out was not completed until 1831, when Captain John Downes assumed command as first commanding officer. Although called a "44" 1st class, she was built to mount 32

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...

s on her

spar deck A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary or upper deck is the horizontal structure that forms the "roof" of the hull, strengthening it and serving as the primary working surface. V ...

, 30 long guns on her gun deck, two bow and three stern chasers on each of these decks, significantly under-rating her on the

rating system of the Royal Navy The rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors was used by the Royal Navy between the beginning of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing warships, initially classing them according to their assi ...

Service history

On her first overseas cruise, ''Potomac'' departed New York 19 August 1831 for 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 ...

via the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

on the

first Sumatran Expedition The First Sumatran expedition, which featured the Battle of Quallah Battoo ( Aceh: Kuala Batèë, Indonesian: Kuala Batu) in 1832, was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against the village of Kuala Batee, presently a subdistrict ...

. On 6 February 1832, ''Potomac'' destroyed the town of Kuala Batee in retaliation for the capture there in February of the previous year of the American merchantman ''Friendship'', which had been recaptured and returned to Salem to report the murder of many of her crew. Of ''Potomac''s 282 sailors and Marines who landed, two were killed while 150 natives died, including Mahomet, the chieftain. After circumnavigating the world, ''Potomac'' returned to Boston 23 May 1834. The frigate next made two cruises to the

Brazil Station The Brazil Squadron, the Brazil Station, or the South Atlantic Squadron was an overseas military station established by the United States in 1826 to protect American commerce in the South Atlantic during a war between Brazil and Argentina. When th ...

, protecting American interests in Latin America from 20 October 1834 to 5 March 1837, and from 12 May 1840 to 31 July 1842. From 8 December 1844 to 4 December 1845, she patrolled in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, and again from 14 March 1846 to 20 July 1847 in the Caribbean and the Gulf. During this latter period, she landed troops at

Port Isabel, Texas Port Isabel is a city in Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville combined statistical area, Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville and the Matamoros–Brownsville Metrop ...

, on 8 May 1846 in support of General

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

's army at the

Battle of Palo Alto The Battle of Palo Alto ( es, Batalla de Palo Alto) was the first major battle of the Mexican–American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles (8 km) from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas. A force of so ...

. She also participated in the

siege of Vera Cruz The Battle of Veracruz was a 20-day siege of the key Mexican beachhead seaport of Veracruz during the Mexican–American War. Lasting from March 9–29, 1847, it began with the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States ...

, 9 to 28 March 1847. ''Potomac'' served as

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

for the

Home Squadron The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy in the mid-19th century. Organized as early as 1838, ships were assigned to protect coastal commerce, aid ships in distress, suppress piracy and the Atlantic slave trade, make coastal surveys, ...

1855–1856. At the outbreak of 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 th ...

, she departed from New York City on 10 September 1861 for 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 ...

off Mobile Bay. At this time, William Thomas Sampson served aboard her until 25 December 1861 when he transferred to the as executive officer. The ''Potomac'' became the stores ship for the squadron and remained at

Pensacola Navy Yard Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United State ...

as a receiving ship until 1867, when she was sent to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She remained at

League Island Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the cit ...

until she decommissioned 13 January 1877. She was sold to E. Stannard & Company 24 May 1877.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Potomac (1822) Ships of the Union Navy Potomac 1 1822 ships

Service history

See also

References