| The first Vermont was one of nine, 74-gun warships authorized
by Congress on 29 April 1816 and was nearly identical to sister ships of
"North Carolina class":
Alabama (renamed
New
Hampshire);
Delaware,
New York,
North
Carolina,
Ohio, and
Virginia.
She was laid down at Boston Navy Yard in September 1818; finished about
1825; and kept on the stocks until finally launched at Boston on 15 September
1848 in the interest of both space and fire safety considerations. However,
Vermont was not commissioned at this time. Instead, the already aged
ship of the line remained in ordinary at Boston until the outbreak of the
Civil War in April 1861. At this time, the cavernous hull of the vessel was
badly needed as a store and receiving ship at Port Royal, South Carolina,
and she was commissioned at Boston on 30 January 1862, Comdr. Augustus S.
Baldwin in command. She received orders to sail for Port Royal for duty with
Rear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron on 17
February and left Boston on 24 February under tow by the steamer
Kensington. |
| That evening, a violent northwest gale accompanied by snow struck
the vessels while off Cape Cod Light, Massachutes. Kensington let
go the tow lines, but Vermont refused to obey her helm, broached,
and had all her sails and most of her boats blown and torn away. The gale
raged for 50 hours; and, by the morning of the 26th, Vermont was drifting
eastward with no rudder, her berth deck flooded, and much of the interior
of the vessel destroyed. Later, on the 26th, Vermont sighted the schooner
Flying Mist, hailed her, put a man on the board and persuaded her
captain to return to the east coast and report the helpless condition of
the ship to naval authorities. Rescue vessels began to reach the stricken
warship on 7 March and enabled Vermont to sail into Port Royal under
her own power on 12 April. |
| Vermont remained anchored at Port Royal, where she served
the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron as an ordnance, hospital, receiving,
and store ship and drew praise from Rear Admiral Du Pont. Secretary of the
Navy Gideon Wells ordered the vessel to return to New York for "public service"
on 25 July 1864. She left Port Royal on 2 August and was replaced there by
her sister ship-of-the-line
New
Hampshire. Vermont remained at New York for the next 37 years,
serving both as a store and receiving ship. She was condemned and struck
from the Navy list on 19 December 1901 and was sold at New York on 17 April
1902. |
Tonnage, 2,633; Length, 197'1/2"; Beam 53'6"; Depth
of hold, 21'6"; Complement 820; Armament twenty 8" shell guns., sixtyfour
32-pdrs. |
|
Bibliography
 |
James L. Mooney, Dictionary of American Naval
Fighting Ships, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1969), Vol.4: L-M, p. 597-598 |
|
James L. Mooney, Dictionary of American Naval
Fighting Ships, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1981), Vol.7: T-V, p. 486 |
|
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