 USSOhio | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSOhio |
| Namesake | Ohio |
| Builder | Henry Eckford (naval architect) |
| Laid down | 1817 |
| Launched | 30 May 1820 |
| Commissioned | before 16 October 1838 |
| Recommissioned | 7 December 1846, needed for theMexican–American War |
| Decommissioned | 1875 |
| Fate | Sold 1883, burned 1884 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| Displacement | 2724 |
| Length | 197 ft (60 m) |
| Beam | 53 ft (16 m) |
| Draft | 22.2 ft (6.8 m) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Speed | 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h) |
| Complement | 840 officers and men |
| Armament |
|
The secondUSSOhio was aship of the line of theUnited States Navy, rated at 74 guns, although her total number of guns was 104.[1] She was designed byHenry Eckford, laid down atBrooklyn Navy Yard in 1817, and launched on 30 May 1820. She went intoordinary and in the ensuing years decayed badly. Refitted for service in 1838,Ohio sailed on 16 October 1838 to join theMediterranean Squadron underCommodoreIsaac Hull. Acting asflagship for two years, she protected commerce and suppressed theslave trade off theAfrican coast.Ohio proved to have excellent performance under sail, repeatedly making more than 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h). One of her officers stated, "I never supposed such a ship could be built—a ship possessing in so great a degree all the qualifications of a perfect vessel." In 1840,Ohio returned toBoston, where she again went into ordinary. From 1841 to 1846,Ohio served asreceiving ship.
To meet the needs of theMexican–American War,Ohio was recommissioned on 7 December 1846, and sailed on 4 January 1847 for theGulf of Mexico, arriving offVeracruz on 22 March.Ohio landed 10 guns on 27 March to help in the siege of Veracruz; the city soon surrendered.
Ohio drew too much water for coastal operations in the gulf. However, 336 of her crew participated in theTuxpan River Expedition. In 1847, the entire distance from the mouth ofthe river to the town was covered with thickjungle growth. The enemy had constructed three well-positioned forts on bluffs overlooking bends in the river. On 17 April,[2] CommodoreMatthew Perry arrived off the mouth of the river with 15 vessels. At 22:00, light-draftsteamersScourge,Spitfire, andVixen, each towing aschooner, moved up stream.BombshipsEtna,Hecla, andVesuvius followed closely while 30 surf boats containing 1,500 men brought up the rear. Approaching the town, the squadron came under hot fire fromFort LaPena. Cmdre. Perry orderedCommanderFranklin Buchanan to disembark the surf boats and storm the fort. As the landing party swept ashore, the Mexicans abandoned their position. The other two forts fell in a like manner, with only light casualties sustained by the squadron. Men fromOhio retrieved the guns ofbrigTruxtun, which had foundered in a storm near Tuxpan on 16 September 1846. The town was occupied and all military stores destroyed.
Following Tuxpan,Ohio sailed from Veracruz and arrived in New York on 9 May. On 26 June, she sailed to bolster thePacific Squadron, first carrying the U.S. minister toBrazil and operating off the east coast ofSouth America until December. InValparaíso on 21 January 1848, Cmdre.Thomas ap Catesby Jones took her as theflagship of thePacific Squadron, intending to blockade the western Mexico ports.Ohio arrived atMazatlán on 6 May, shortly after theMexican–American War ended. Jones used the fleet to help transport toMonterey, California, those that had aided the United States in the war, arriving there on 9 October.Ohio then sailed toSausalito, inSan Francisco Bay.Ohio spent the next two years in the Pacific protecting commerce and policing the newly acquiredCalifornia Territory during the chaotic early months of thegold rush.Scurvy struck the crew in the spring of 1849 inSan Francisco Bay, so Jones sentOhio to theSandwich Islands for fresh food.
In 1850, she returned toBoston, where she again went into ordinary. In 1851,Ohio became a receiving ship and continued this duty until again placed in ordinary in 1875.Ohio was sold at Boston toJ. L. Snow ofRockland, Maine on 27 September 1883. She was burned in the following year, inGreenport Harbor,New York; the remains are still accessible toscuba divers. The wreck is off Fanning Point, in about 20 ft (6.1 m) of water.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
Consider the Navy's ship-of-the-line program that followed the War of 1812… Congress, on April 29, 1816, 'authorized to cause to be built, nine ships to rate not less than 74 guns each'. All nine were eventually laid down, in shipyards from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Norfolk, Virginia, and four of them were completed in a timely manner by the end of 1820. None of these ships ever saw action, of course, for the world had entered an extended era of peace.
