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USS Saranac (I)

Brigantine:
  • Laid down in the autumn of 1814 by Beldin and Churchill, at Middletown, CT.
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Completed in the early summer of 1815
  • Saranac, was built to be part of a projected flying squadron intended to cruise against British shipping under the command of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry; but the War of 1812 ended before the squadron could be assembled
  • Congress declared war upon Algiers, 2 March 1815, because the Barbary state had persistently violated its treaty with the United States by preying upon American merchant shipping and by mistreating American citizens
  • With the declaration of war the Navy began preparations to send two squadrons to the Mediterranean
  • Commissioned USS Saranac, date unknown, LT. John B. Elton in command
  • Soon after commissioning Saranac sailed for European waters joining Commodore William Bainbridges's squadron in the the Mediterranean where she and the rest of the squadron would spend the next several months enforcing the peace concluded with Algiers
  • When the brig arrived back in the United States she underwent repairs before sailing for the West Indies to protect American shipping from freebooters and from interference by Spanish cruisers
  • Because Saranac had been hastily constructed out of green timber she had deteriorated rapidly during her service in tropical waters
  • After her leaking had reached a dangerous rate, the brig was decommissioned, 12 December 1818
  • Final Disposition, condemned, and sold at New York City
    Specifications:
    Displacement 360 t.
    Length unknown
    Beam unknown
    Depth of Hold unknown
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    fourteen 32-pdr carronades
    two long 12-pdrs
    Propulsion sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Macedonian
    098654913    		 112k Print by George G.Smith (1795-1878) engraver George Girdler Smith of the United States squadron under Com. Bainbridge returning triumphant from the Mediterranean in 1815, The print shows the American squadron at sea, includes, on the left;
    USS Macedonian (I),
    USS Firefly (I),
    USS Torch,
    USS Boxer (I), at center,
    USS Independence,
    USS USS Spark (I),
    USS Saranac (I)
    USS Enterprise (III),
    USS Lynx (i), and on the right,
    USS Congress (III)
    USS Chippewa (II),
    USS Spitfire (III) and
    USS Flambeau.
    United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3a47975    		 Robert Hurst
    Saranac (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 13 May 2022