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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

Florida (III)
ex
 USS Wampanoag (1867 - 1868)

Florida-class Steam Screw Frigate:
  • Laid down, 3 August 1863, by the New York Navy Yard, N.Y.
  • Launched, 15 December 1864
  • Commissioned, 17 September 1867, Capt. J. W. A. Nicholson in command.
  • Assigned as Flag ship for the North Atlantic Fleet, 5 May 1868
  • Decommissioned, 15 May 1869, at New York Navy Yard renamed Florida
  • Assigned to Naval Station New London, CT. as receiving and store ship, 5 March 1874
  • Transferred to New York Navy Yard for disposal in February 1885
  • Struck from the Naval Register and sold, 27 February 1885 to Edwin LeBars
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4,2151 t.
    Length 355'
    Beam 45' 2"
    Draft 19'
    Speed 18 kts
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    ten 8" smooth-bore
    two 100-pdrs
    two 24-pdr howitzers
    one 60-pdr rifled pivot-gun
    Propulsion
    eight coal-burning fire-tube boilers, four of them with superheaters
    two compound reciprocating engines
    single propeller
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    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
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    USS Wampanoag
    Florida 87k View along the New York Navy Yard waterfront, probably in the Summer-Fall of 1866. Ships present are (left to right): USS Wampanoag fitting out; a screw gunboat of the Kansas or Cayuga class; USS Madawaska, preparing for trials; USS Susquehanna; USS Idaho, laid up after her unsuccessful trials (across the channel from Wampanoag); two "Double-Ender" side-wheel gunboats; and USS Vermont, in the extreme right background.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 85970, courtesy of Martin Holbrook, 1977.    		 Robert Hurst
    Florida 295k Engraving of the steam frigate USS Wampanoag, Harper's Weekly, June 2, 1866. Tommy Trampp
    Florida 77k Oil painting by John Charles Roach, 1984, depicting the steam frigate USS Wampanoag performing her designed mission, in an imaginary conflict.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 95699-KN Courtesy of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 1985.    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    Florida 40k Drawing of the controversial screw frigate USS Wampanoag illustrates what was, for her time, the extraordinary amount of hull space devoted to machinery in this high-performance ship. Eight coal-burning fire-tube boilers, four of them with superheaters, are arranged in two boiler rooms; between them are two compound reciprocating engines which turn Wampanoag's four-bladed 19-foot propeller. Drawing from Frank M. Bennett, The Steam Navy of the United States (Pittsburgh, Pa., 1895). Robert Hurst
    Florida 218k Drawing comparing the machinery installation of USS Wampanoag, USS Tennessee and USS Trenton. It is marked: "Copy from Roach's April 16th (18)77". The plan emphasizes the savings in weight, space and personnel represented in the machinery and boilers of Tennessee and Trenton as compared with Wampanoag. The original drawing is # 107-10-5A in Record Group 19, National Archives.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 76383    		 Robert Hurst
    Florida
    Florida 117k Florida at New York Navy Yard after decommissioning, 15 May 1869.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 76423.    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    Florida 138k Florida in drydock at the New York Navy Yard. The original photo bears the date 1874 on its mat. In March 1874, this ship departed New York to become the receiving and store ship at the New London Naval Station, Connecticut. This view may show her after refitting for that purpose. It is also possible, given the "new" appearance of the ship, that it was actually taken in the winter of 1868, at the time of her trials. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, from the Skerrit Collection, Bethlehem Steel Company Archives.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 54159.    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    USS Wampanoag / Florida
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 15 March 2019