“Lexington”
The first Lexington was a 16-gun brig fitted out by the Continental Marine Committee under authority of the Act of October 13, 1775. She carried fourteen 4-pounders, two sixes, twelve swivels, and eighty-four men.
The Lexington made her first cruise in command of Captain John Barry, sailing from the Delaware Capes early in 1776. On April 7, while cruising off Chesapeake Bay, she fell in with the British sloop Edward, of eight guns, tender to the frigate Liverpool. “She engaged us near two glasses,” wrote Captain Barry. “They killed two of our men and wounded two more. We shattered her in a terrible manner, as you will see. We killed and wounded several of her crew.”
After cruising on the coast for several months, the little cruiser was ordered to the West Indies, in charge of Captain William Hallock, but on the return voyage she was captured off the mouth of the Delaware, in December, 1776, by the British frigate Pearl. A lieutenant and a small prize crew were put on board, and seventy of the Lexington’s men were left in her. However, the same evening the prisoners rose on their captors, retook their ship, and brought her safely into port.
After refitting, the brig was placed under the command of Captain Henry Johnson, who was directed to proceed to Nantes, France, to join the Reprisal and Dolphin which were harassing English commerce in European waters. The Lexington sailed from Baltimore, Maryland, on February 27, 1777, and reported at the appointed rendezvous early in April. While the little squadron missed some linen ships which they had hoped to capture, they succeeded in taking no less than eighteen prizes in the course of their circuit of the Irish coast. On June 27 they were chased off Ushant by a large ship of war, but all three cruisers succeeded in making their escape, the Lexington running into Morlaix, while her consorts put into St. Malo. “The three fellows have three of the fastest sailing vessels in the employ of the Colonies,” wrote a British agent to the Foreign Office in London, “and it’s impossible to take them unless it Blows hard.”
About the middle of September, the Lexington again put to sea. Two days out, on September 20, 1777, she fell in with the British 10-gun cutter Alert, and a spirited engagement ensued, but the lightness of the vessels and the roughness of the water rendered the fire on both sides rather ineffective. After two hours and a half, Captain Johnson succeeded in crippling his antagonist’s rigging, but in so doing he used up nearly all of his powder. Taking advantage of the Alert’s condition, he made all sail in an endeavor to escape. But the British commander soon “got his rigging to right” and giving chase “came up with him at half past one, renewed the action till half past two, when he struck.” (Lieutenant Bazely’s report to the British Admiralty.) Lexington lost seven killed and wounded, while the enemy’s casualties numbered only five men.
The second Lexington was an 18-gun sloop of war built at the New York navy-yard, New York, under the Act of March 3, 1825. She was launched in 1825, and was completed at a cost of $112,128. She was a sailing vessel of 691 tons burthen; 127 ft. length; 33 ft. 6 in. breadth; 15 ft. 3 in. depth of hold, and 16 ft. 6 in. draft. When first commissioned, she carried a battery of twenty-four medium 24-pounders. In April, 1843, following her conversion into a storeship, her armament was reduced to six 32-pounder carronades. In November, 1844, she mounted four long 9’s and four short 32-pounders. On her last cruise she had only the carronades on board. Her crew numbered 190 officers and men.
The Lexington was commissioned at New York, New York, on June 11, 1826, by Master Commander William B. Shubrick, for special service to the coast of Labrador in connection with the protection of American fisheries. On her return from this duty, she was sent to the West Indies to bring back the remains of Commodore Oliver H. Perry from Trinidad. Early in 1827 she was sent to the Mediterranean, where she cruised for almost three years under several commanders. Master Commandant B. W. Booth (April 28, 1827) took her out; the station being relieved on July 20, 1828, by Master Commandant S. L. Breese. Master Commandant James Ramage joined the ship at Port Mahon in August, but he kept her only six weeks and then turned her over to Master Commandant William M. Hunter (October 2, 1828).
From November, 1830, to June, 1831, the Lexington was laid up in ordinary at the Norfolk navy yard, Virginia. Her next cruise took her to the Brazil station, her commanders during this period being Master Commandant Silas M. Duncan (May 31, 1831) and Master Commandant Isaac McKeever (August 16, 1832). Then followed a visit to the Pacific coast, where our growing commerce necessitated the presence of an important naval force. On this cruise the ship was commanded by Commander John H. Clack (July 10, 1837).
On her return to the Atlantic seaboard, the Lexington was converted into a store vessel, and during the remainder of her career she served the various squadrons in this capacity. In April, 1843, she went to the Mediterranean, where she remained for several years, going afterwards to the Pacific Ocean. During the war with Mexico she operated on the coast of California, in command of Lieutenant Theodoras Bailey (June 2, 1846), transporting troops for the Army and assisting in the blockade. On January 12, 1848, she landed a party of men at San Bias, where the enemy’s guns were brought off. Her last cruise was to the East Indies as storeship to Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s famous expedition to Japan. She sailed from New York on June 18, 1853, under the command of Lieutenant John J. Glasson (May 25, 1853), and did not return to the United States until two years later. She was placed out of commission at New York on February 26, 1853, being subsequently disposed of by sale.
The third Lexington was a side-wheel gunboat of the fourth rate purchased by Commander John Rodgers at Cincinnati, Ohio, in June, 1861. Her cost was $20,666.66. She was altered for naval purposes by raising perpendicular oak bulwarks around her sides: these were five inches thick and proof against musketry fire. The boilers were dropped into the hold, and the steam pipes lowered as much as possible. She was originally a western river steamer, built at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in i860. Her characteristics were: burthen, 448 tons; length, 177 ft. 7 in.; breadth, 36 ft. 10 in.; depth of hold, 7 ft.; draft, 6 ft. Her engines were of the high pressure type, with a stroke of seven feet, and steam was furnished by three boilers. Her maximum speed was seven knots. When first commissioned she carried a battery of four 8-inch smoothbores and two 32-pounders of 43 cwt. Later one of the 32-pounders was replaced by two 30-pounder Parrott rifles. In September, 1864, she rated two additional 8-inch guns.
Under Commander Roger N. Stembel (August, 1861), the Lexington was charged with the early operations and expeditions on western waters, particularly insofar as these reflected on the Union control of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers. During the preparation of the main ironclad fleet, she joined the Conestoga and Tyler in intimidating the Confederate sympathizers by sudden incursions to threatened points. Thus the Lexington accompanied General Grant’s movement against Paducah, Kentucky, in which there was no fighting, while Smithland, Kentucky, at the mouth of the Cumberland River, was seized a few days later. On September 4, 1861, she had a brush with the Confederate gunboat Jackson off Hickman, Kentucky, but “having very little powder on board and only half enough gun tackles for working the battery,” Captain Stembel withdrew after having expended about twenty rounds.
Six days later a more serious affair took place. The Lexington and Tyler had taken up a position off Norfolk, Missouri, at the request of General Grant to cover an advance of the army in that direction. The operation was carried without incident, and the Lexington then turned her attention to some of the enemy’s vessels, which were anchored under the bluff batteries at Lucas Bend. “We engaged them and soon silenced them,” wrote Commander Stembel. One of the Lexington’s 8-inch guns, charged with a fifteen-second fuse shell, was trained upon the Jackson, and “I had the satisfaction of seeing the shell explode in her starboard wheelhouse, careening her smokestack, and otherwise crippling her, when the rebel steamers retreated toward Columbus, the batteries on the bluffs alone preventing their capture.”
On September 22, the Lexington was ordered to Owensboro, Kentucky, to guard the Ohio River. A fortnight later the active little vessel was back in the Mississippi, where she had another engagement with the enemy’s batteries near Columbus, Kentucky. Then occurred the battle of Belmont, Missouri, where the Lexington and Tyler by their timely intervention saved General Grant’s army on November 7. “The enemy planted their fresh artillery, supported by infantry, in a cornfield just above our transports with the intention of sinking them when we started up the river, and of bagging the entire army,” wrote an eyewitness, “but thanks to the gunboats Tyler and Lexington and their experienced gunners, they saved us from a terrible doom. They took up a position between us and the enemy and opened their guns upon them, letting slip a whole broadside at once. This movement was performed so quickly that the Confederates could not fire on us. Their guns were silenced as soon as they opened, or probably were dismounted. The first shot from the gunboats made a perfect lane through the enemy’s ranks.”
Under Lieutenant James W. Shirk, who was ordered to the Lexington on January 1, 1862, the vessel took part in some tentative movements up the Tennessee, and in the first week in February she joined in the attack upon Fort Henry. This works surrendered after an action of one hour and eight minutes. No sooner was the Confederate flag hauled down, than the Lexington and two other gunboats were sent up the river to destroy the railroad bridge connecting Bowling Green with Columbus. The movement was carried out so rapidly, that the Confederates were taken unawares. The trestle work was injured beyond repair, three steamers laden with military stores were burnt, and a large vessel, which the enemy were converting into a gunboat, was captured at Cerro Gordo, Tennessee.
After repairing at Carondelet, the Lexington again stood up the Tennessee as far as Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, where the Confederates were actively engaged in erecting batteries. With the assistance of the Tyler, the enemy were easily dislodged on March 1, 1862, after which the two gunboats remained in the vicinity to frustrate any similar attempts. Thus it was, that while the main squadron was engrossed in the task of reducing Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River, the two insignificant and frail wooden gunboats were at hand to render valuable assistance to General Grant’s army, when it was attacked by a superior force of the enemy in the following month. At daybreak on April 6, the Confederates launched a furious assault against the Union lines at Pittsburg Landing. General Grant’s center was driven in towards the river, and the left wing was sorely pressed. The gunboats offered to open fire, to which General Hurlburt, who commanded on the left, replied that he was grateful for this offer of support as without reinforcements he would not be able to maintain his position for an hour longer. The Confederates had not anticipated the intervention Of the gunboats, so that when the latter opened fire the assaulting columns were so close that their ranks were literally decimated, and the survivors driven off a perfect rout in the space of ten minutes."
The gunboats remained in the river until the latter part of May, when they were obliged to fall down on account of the low stage of the water. The Lexington stopped at Cairo only long enough to take on board two rifled 30-pounders, and then proceeded to join the main squadron before Fort Pillow. From there she was sent up the White River in company with the Mound City, St. Louis, and Conestoga, for the purpose of opening communications for the Union troops which were trying to reach the Mississippi through Missouri and Arkansas. An Indiana regiment accompanied the expedition. On June 17 the gunboats found their advance checked by two batteries, which the enemy had erected at St. Charles, Arkansas. A brisk engagement followed, in the course of which the Mound City was disabled by a shot through her steam drum. But the other vessels pressed on to the attack, while the troops successfully stormed the works from the land side. After occupying St. Charles, Lieutenant Shirk pushed sixty-three miles farther up the river to Crooked Point Cut-Off, where he was compelled to turn back by the falling of the water.
In the autumn the Lexington was detailed to escort army transports on the Mississippi and to protect them against the bands of guerrillas which infested the river banks. On the resumption of active operations in November, when the streams were rising from the autumnal rains, she was assigned to duty with Captain Walke's division of gunboats, with the mission to enter the Yazoo and clear the way for an advance of General McClernand's army against Vicksburg. The expedition got under way on December 12, the light-draft gunboats leading the column. The presence of torpedoes was soon discovered, but the work of clearing them was hazardous in the face of the numerous sharpshooters who were concealed behind the levees. Two ironclads were sent up to cover the operations, but one of them, the Cairo, was sunk by a torpedo which exploded under her bow. The work of removing the torpedoes continued for several weeks, every inch of ground being won under a constant fire of musketry. At Haynes' Bluff, further progress was stopped by the forts which lined the heights. The ironclads shelled the enemy’s position without success, and the troops assaulted it on December 29, but the attack failed entirely.
The continued rains now rendered the position of the army dangerous, and the movement was therefore abandoned. Instead the combined forces were diverted to the Arkansas River, where the Lexington participated in the capture of Fort Hindman on January 11, 1863. A few weeks later Lieutenant Shirk was ordered to patrol the Cumberland River “until the banks can be cleared of the heavy artillery represented as being there.” The country between the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers was infested by numerous bands of guerrillas and light irregular forces, and their depredations required the admiral to keep the streams constantly patrolled by a force of gunboats. The brushes between the Lexington and these bodies do not individually possess much importance, other than showing the continual and essential activities of the Navy in keeping open the Army’s communications, aiding isolated garrisons, and checking the growth of guerrilla warfare.
On January 30, Lieutenant-Commander S. Ledyard Phelps was sent in the Lexington to look into the condition of affairs on the Cumberland River. Twenty miles above Clarksville he landed and burned a house used as a storehouse by the enemy. But on the way down, the vessel was fired upon by a battery of heavy guns and struck three times. Four days later, while convoying a fleet of transports with five light-drafts below Dover, the Lexington was met by a steamer bearing a message from the commanding officer of that post to the effect that his men were being attacked by an overwhelming force. Hastening to the scene of battle with his gunboats, Lieutenant-Commander Le Roy Fitch (February, 1863) arrived just as the Confederates were completing their encircling movement. The Union garrison was in extremis, having expended all their ammunition. The appearance of the Lexington and her consorts took the enemy wholly by surprise, and after the second broadside they fled in confusion, leaving one hundred and forty of their dead on the field.
Having returned to the mouth of the Cumberland to coal, Lieutenant-Commander Fitch received a telegram early in April that a convoy had been attacked at Palmyra, thirty miles above Dover, and the gunboat St. Clair disabled. He at once got under way with several other vessels, and on reaching Palmyra the town was laid in ashes, in retaliation for the firing on unarmed vessels and harboring guerrillas. A raid was also made against a body of the enemy further up stream, but they had notice of his approach, and made good their escape.
On June 7 another Union garrison was saved from annihilation by the timely arrival of the Lexington and Choctaw. A large body of Confederates made an attack against Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, which was guarded by two colored regiments and a part of the Twenty-ninth Iowa. "The blacks met the onset manfully," Wrote Rear Admiral Porter in his official report, "and a company of the Iowa regiment stood at their post until they were slaughtered to a man, killing an equal number of rebels. The fight was desperate, and our men, overpowered, had to retreat behind the bank, near the water's edge, followed closely by the rebels. There the gunboats opened on the rebels with shell, grape, and canister, and they fled in wild confusion, not knowing the gunboats were there or expecting such a reception."
In the spring of 1864 the Lexington, under Lieutenant George M. Bache (June 15, 1863), took part in the famous" Red River expedition. The fleet, consisting of twenty ironclads and gunboats, the transports following, started up the morning of March 12. The enemy were driven from Simsport and Fort de Russy, the latter being again captured with its guns and a small garrison. Alexandria was captured by the combined forces on April 15, when commenced the move towards Shreveport, Louisiana, the principal depot of the Confederates west of the Mississippi, and three hundred and forty miles farther up the river. Only a part of the naval force could proceed beyond Alexandria, but the assistance of the gunboats was so essential to success that the Lexington and ten other vessels were hauled over the falls. Grand Encore was reached and occupied. There were indications of the usual rise in the river, and everything promised success. But at Springfield Landing the gunboats were greeted with the news that the army had met with a reverse at Pleasant Hill and was falling back. This obliged the vessels to drop down the river, but on their return they were attacked at every assailable point by the Confederates, who were flushed with victory. On April 12 they came near capturing six transports at Blair's Plantation, "but were handsomely received by the Osage and Lexington in the old style,” to quote the admiral’s own words, and driven off with heavy loss.
On reaching Grand Encore, it was found that the river, which ordinarily remains high till June, had so fallen that the gunboats could not repass the rapids above Alexandria. There was little prospect of getting the vessels out, and destruction seemed inevitable. But desperate as the case seemed, relief came. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey, acting engineer of the Nineteenth Army Corps, devised a plan for a series of dams across the rocks at the falls, thus supplying sufficient depth of water for the passage. The dams were built, and, the water rising, three gunboats were ordered through on May 9. The Lexington, having steam up, was sent down first. She steered straight for the opening, where the furious rushing of the waters seemed to threaten her with destruction. She entered the gap with a full head of steam, pitched down the roaring torrent, made two or three heavy rolls, hung for a moment on the rocks below, and then, sweeping into deep water, rounded to at the bank, safe.
After this the Lexington returned to the Mississippi, where during the remainder of the war she was employed chiefly in patrol and convoy duty. On June 22, 1864, she drove off a Confederate attack against White River Station, Arkansas, after which she took up her station at Skipwith’s Landing, Mississippi- Acting Master William Neil commanded the vessel from October 25 to November 18, 1864, being succeeded by Acting Volunteer Lieutenant William Flye, who kept her until she was placed out of commission at Mound City, Illinois, on June 2, 1865. The Lexington was later sold (August 17, 1865) at public auction to Thomas Scott & Woodburn for $6,000.
The fourth vessel of the Navy to bear the name Lexington was a battle cruiser of the first line authorized by the Naval Appropriation Act of August 29, 1916. She was to be a steel armored ship of 43,500 tons, with the following dimensions: length, 850 ft.; breadth, 101 ft. 8 in.; draft, 31 ft. Her propelling machinery was to consist of quadruple-screw Westinghouse turbines of 180,000 horsepower, with sixteen White-Forster oil' burning boilers. Her estimated speed was 33 knots. She was designed to carry a battery of eight 16-inch rifles mounted in turrets, with a secondary armament of sixteen 6-inch rifles and four 3-inch anti-aircraft guns. Her torpedo armament was to include eight 21-inch torpedo tubes. The contract for her construction with the Newport News Ship Building Company was signed on May 24, 1917, but before her keel could be laid, the Navy Department ordered her name changed to Ranger (December 10, 1917).
The fifth Lexington is a quadruple screw aircraft carrier of 35,000 tons, being built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, under the terms of the Acts of August 29, 1916, and July 1, 1922. She was originally designed as a battle cruiser, but following the signing of the treaty limiting naval armaments her plans were modified, and she was transformed into an aircraft carrier. Her principal characteristics are: length, 850 ft.; breadth, RH ft. 8 in.; draft, 31 ft. She has General Electric turbines of 33,000 horsepower, with electric drive, for which steam is supplied by sixteen Yarrow boilers. Her estimated speed is 22 knots. The armament consists of sixteen 6-inch rifles, mounted on twin mounts. The vessel is fitted with a hangar of sufficient size to hold a fleet of airplanes, and several machine shops for the repair of disabled machines.
In The Lexington was borne on the Navy register for several years as the Constitution, but her name was changed on December 10, 1917, to Lexington by order of the Navy Department.
"PORTSMOUTH"
The first Portsmouth was a 24-gun ship built by the government during the war with France. Her construction was authorized by to the Act of June 30, 1798, and she was completed in the same year at a cost of $59,56o.00. Her burthen was 593 tons and she was manned by a crew of 220 men.
The Portsmouth went to sea in December, 1798, in command of Captain Daniel McNeill, under orders to cruise in the West Indies as part of the squadron of Commodore Barry. In the following year, she was stationed off the coast of the Dutch colony of Surinam, occasionally convoying merchantmen on their way to or from the United States. Following the conclusion of peace with the French Government, she was sent over on special service to bring home the American envoys. She was sold out of the service in 1801, under the terms of the naval peace establishment, $34,366 being realized from her sale.
The second Portsmouth was a 20-gun sloop of war built at the Portsmouth navy yard, New Hampshire, where she was launched on October 23, 1843. Her cost was $170,586. The hull was of live oak, with the following dimensions: burthen, 1,022 tons; displacement, 1,125 tons; length, 153 ft.; breadth, 38 ft. 1 in.; depth of hold, 16 ft. 9 in.; draft, 16 ft. 6 in. The battery underwent numerous changes. At first it consisted of four 8-inch shell guns and eighteen long 32-pounders, but in October, 1852, two additional shell guns were mounted, while the broadside guns were reduced to sixteen. Four years later she carried sixteen 8-inch guns. On the outbreak of the Civil War, a 12-pounder howitzer was added, and soon after she was also given a 20-pounder Parrott rifle. On July 1, 1863, two 8-inch guns of 55 cwt. were added. In the following year, another gun, a 100-pounder Parrott rifle, was put on board, but after a few months the Navy Department ordered the battery reduced until there remained only one rifled 20-pounder and sixteen 8-inch guns. In 1872 the ordnance records credit her with having on board four 8-inch guns of 65 cwt. and one 30-pounder Parrott rifle. In June, 1874, she carried twelve 8-inch guns, two 20-pounder Parrott rifles, two 24- pounder howitzers and two other pieces of lighter caliber. Two 8-inch guns and two howitzers were removed in August, 1875, but four years later one of the former was again mounted in the ship- In February, 1884, there were one 8-inch gun and one 6o-pounder breech-loading rifle. In May, 1889, she carried eleven 8-inch guns, one 6o-pounder rifle, two 20-pounders, and two other guns. Before 1861 she usually had a crew of 210 men, but during the Civil War the muster rolls give her only 161 men.
The Portsmouth was placed in commission at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on November 10, 1844, by Commander John B. Montgomery, who proceeded in her to the Pacific Ocean. There she joined Commodore Sloat’s squadron, which was engaged in watching the movements of numerous British cruisers concentrated off the coast of Mexico, yet ready in the event of hostilities with the neighboring republic to act with promptness and vigor. Events moved quickly, and on July 7, 1846, the commodore sent a landing party ashore to hoist the American flag over the city of Monterey- On the following day, Commander Montgomery took possession of the shores of San Francisco Bay. A few months later, the Portsmouth accompanied the flagship to the Gulf of California, where she took up a position off the town of Guaymas. The American colors were raised over San Jose on March 30, 1847, early in April San Lucas and La Paz were occupied, after which Commander Montgomery returned to his former station until relieved by the Dale in November. After the conclusion of hostilities, the Portsmouth was ordered home, returning by way of Cape Horn and reaching Boston, Massachusetts, on May 9, 1848.
A new commission dates from August 7, 1848, with Commander William M. Armstrong in command. The Portsmouth cruised off the west coast of Africa, where she flew the broad pennant of Commodore Benjamin Cooper. The latter was obliged to return to the United States on account of ill health in the following year, but the Portsmouth almost immediately rejoined the squadron as the flagship of Commodore Gregory. During the last two years of the cruise, the ship was commanded by Commander Elisha Peck (October 6, 1849).
On November 20, 1851, Commander Edward Peck refitted the Portsmouth for a cruise to the Pacific Ocean. The Sandwich Islands were visited in 1853, and two years later the vessel returned home, going out of commission at Norfolk, Virginia, on April 9, 1855. In the following spring, Commander Andrew H. Foote (April 22, 1856) was directed to join Commodore Armstrong’s squadron in the East Indies. The Portsmouth sailed from Hampton Roads on May 4, 1856, and after a passage of ninety- four days, in which she encountered heavy gales, reached Batavia, where the officers were most hospitably entertained by the Dutch authorities. From there the ship repaired to Chinese waters, where troubles had already broken out between the natives and the English. On his arrival at Canton, Commander Foote proceeded to take measures to protect the lives and property of the American residents of that city. While thus engaged, one of the boats of the Portsmouth was fired upon by the Chinese. An explanation was at once demanded, but no satisfaction being received, the Portsmouth, San Jacinto, and Levant proceeded to attack the Barrier Forts on November 20. A storming party consisting of 287 sailors and marines, with four howitzers, was landed and succeeded in taking four of the forts in brilliant fashion. Each of the works captured mounted from forty to fifty guns. Soon after the beginning of the action, a portion of the Chinese Army at Canton, variously estimated from four to fifteen thousand, advanced to the relief of the forts, but, after being twice repulsed by the marines, they returned whence they had come. The Portsmouth was under fire for three days, and received eighteen shot in her hull and rigging. Two members of her landing party were killed and five wounded. "I cannot help believing that the heavy and prolonged cannonading of the Portsmouth," wrote Commander Foote, "was most important in preparing the way for the operations which succeeded. The powerful battery of this ship, consisting of sixteen 8-inch shell guns, each of 63 cwt., so paralyzed the nearest fort, which was within a range of four hundred and eighty yards, that it was never afterward able to do injury which it might otherwise have inflicted." In January, 1857, Commander Foote visited the Chinese ports opened to American commerce by treaty, after which he ran over to Singapore to look into the affair of the Dutch bark Henrietta Maria, that had been abandoned at sea by her officers and most of her crew, and brought into that port by an American merchant ship. From there the Portsmouth went to Bangkok, where the ship was visited by one of the kings of Siam, "a courtesy never before extended to a man-of-war of any nation." The ship continued to cruise on the station until the end of the year, visiting various ports, and then she returned to the United States, being placed out of commission at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on June 21, 1858.
Almost a year elapsed before the Portsmouth was refitted, and then she was sent to the African station in charge of Commander John Colhoun (May 4, 1859). A large squadron was maintained there by the government, with a view to putting a stop to the African slave trade, and the American cruisers were assisted in this by a British naval force, which was under orders to cooperate in every way. On September 21, 1859, the Portsmouth captured the American slaver Emily off St. Paul de Loando, and in the following year she made two more captures, both of which were sent into port and condemned. On the outbreak of the Civil War, the Navy Department issued orders for the recall of the ship, but these were some time reaching her and she did not leave the station until early in August, 1861.
The Portsmouth was refitted on December 1 by Commander Samuel Swartwout and sailed a fortnight later for the Gulf of Mexico, where she was assigned a blockading station off the coast of Texas. On February 1, 1862, she intercepted the English steamer Labuan off the mouth of the Rio Grande, winch resulted in the exchange of considerable correspondence. About the middle of April, she was relieved by the Montgomery, which brought orders for her to join Flag Officer Farragut’s squadron in the Mississippi River. During the passage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip by the fleet, on the morning of April 24, the Portsmouth was towed within range of the enemy’s works for the purpose of enfilading them. But soon after she came to anchor, the spring was shot away and the ship swung around, so that none of the guns could be brought to bear upon Fort Jackson. The Portsmouth soon became the target for the enemy’s guns, their shot and shell dropping “with great rapidity all around and close to the ship,” so that it was found necessary to slip the cable and drop downstream out of range.
After the surrender of New Orleans, Louisiana, the admiral prepared to push on toward Baton Rouge, Natchez, and Vicksburg. The Portsmouth was directed to anchor off the city for the protection of the troops left to garrison it, and this appears to have been her station until the end of the war. Commander Lewis C. Sartori joined the ship on August 4, 1863 and kept her two years, being relieved on April 22, 1865 by Lieutenant Commander Samuel R. Franklin. The ship left her anchorage in the Mississippi River on August 6, 1865 under orders to go out of commission at New York, New York.
In 1866 the ship was employed on ordnance duty, also being placed at the disposal of the Health Commissioners for quarantine purposes in New York harbor, under the terms of the Act of Congress of March 24, 1866. She was refitted on June 3, 1867, by Commander Joseph S. Skerrett for special service, and two years later she made another cruise under Commander Alexander A. Semmes (January I, 1869), which lasted twenty-three months. Then followed a brief commission on the South Atlantic Station, the ship being in charge of Captain Charles H. B. Caldwell (April 8, 1872) and Captain James W. A. Nicholson (June 28, 1872)- Her last cruise took her to the Pacific Ocean, which was the scene of her first exploits. She sailed from New York on December 23, 1872, under Commander Joseph S. Skerrett (August 23, 1872), and after three years of surveying in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands, she was placed out of commission at Mare Island, California, August 7, 1876. (During the last ten months she was commanded by Commander Silas Casey.)
From 1879 to 1895 the Portsmouth was used as a training ship for naval apprentices, following which she was loaned to the naval Militia of the state of New Jersey. She was returned on March 4, 1911, to the Navy Department, which loaned her to the Marine Hospital Service. She was stricken from the Navy register on April 17, 1915.