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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Franklin (IV)


1913 International Radio Call Sign:
Nan - Fox - Watch
 NFW
Franklin class screw frigate:
  • Laid down in 1854 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, N. H.
  • Launched, 17 September 1864
  • Commissioned, 3 June 1867, at Boston, CDR. James W. Shirk USN in command
  • Assigned as flagship for the European Squadron, 28 June 1867, sailing from New York
  • Reassigned again as flagship for the European Squadron, 28 January 1869
  • Returning to Boston for decommissioning, 13 November 1871
  • Recommissioned, 15 December 1873, sailing on the North Atlantic Station, Capt. Samuel R. Franklin USN in command
  • Reassigned, 11 April 1874, to the European Squadron as flagship until 14 September 1876.
  • Decommissioned, 2 March 1877, at Norfolk, VA., 2 March 1877, reassigned and recommissioned the same day as Receiving Ship for the Norfolk Station
  • Decommissioned, 14 October 1915
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 26 October 1915 and sold.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 5,170 t.
    Length 265'
    Beam 53' 8"
    Draft 17'
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    one 11" gun
    thirty-four 9" guns
    four 100-pdr rifle
    Propulsion Sails/Steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Franklin 144k Admiral David G. Farragut aboard his flagship USS Franklin during his European Cruise in 1867.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 49527, courtesy of Mr. Franklin Bache Huntington.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Franklin 9k A Carte de visite photographic print by Benque-Sebastianutti, Trieste, of Frank Allen, U.S. Navy Enlisted Man, 1868. Allen was a Landsman in USS Franklin in 1868.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 61156. Donated by John McAlister. Data on Frank Allen's service was provided by Charles Brewer, 1995.    		 Robert Hurst
    Sabine
    098604610    		 252k USS Sabine and USS Franklin moored in the harbor at Ville Franche in a sketch by W.R. May, circa 1870, of the two ship's boat crews racing each other.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 53942    		 Robert Hurst
    Franklin 89k USS Franklin at Boston Navy Yard, circa 1867-1876.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 54189.    		 Robert Hurst
    Franklin 87k USS Franklin photographed by E.H. Hart, 1162 Broadway, New York, probably at the Norfolk Navy Yard, circa the 1880s.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 53945.    		 Robert Hurst
    Maple 111k USLHT Maple at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 9 May 1898. USS Franklin, housed over and serving as a receiving ship, is in the background.
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-19-22-5, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 Robert Hurst
    Franklin 38k 1900 photo of a US Navy sailor from the USS Franklin. Tommy Trampp
    Franklin 172k USS Franklin housed over while serving as Receiving Ship at Norfolk, Naval Station, circa 1877-1915. Tommy Trampp
    Franklin 358k USS Franklin serving as a Receiving Ship the St. Helena Annex, Norfolk, Naval Yard, circa 1877-1915. Thomas Becher
    Franklin
    098601211    		 66k The masting shear crane is shown at the North end of Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA. A Civil War era monitor style ship is tied up along the river berth, alongside the 1840 stone launching slip. In the background are the Receiving Ships USS Richmond and USS Franklin, across the river at the Saint Helena Annex, the US Navy training ground.
    Virginia shell series postcard #4, produced by the S. Langsdorf & CO. of New York. These cards were embossed and printed (lithographed) in Germany before World War I.    		 Brian Baird
    Franklin
    098601212    		 512k The North end of Norfolk Navy Yard is in foreground; the US Navy Training Ground at Saint Helena, Berkley, Norfolk, VA, is across the Elizabeth River on right. Submarines and torpedo boats are berthed at its angled piers. Moored in the river are the receiving ships USS Franklin and USS Richmond, used to house sailors that were being trained at Saint Helenas. Two white hull pre-WWI battleships are berthed along the quay wall of the Navy Yard, one at Berth 1 (left) adjacent to the masting sheer crane and the other at Berth 7 (right). In the center of the photo is Wetslip# 1, with four-stack cruiser (unidentified) at Berth 3. Undated circa 1908. Brian Baird
    Franklin
    098601213    		 115k Panoramic photograph (cropped) looking north to the US Navy's Saint Helena Training Station in the Berkley section of Norfolk, VA.. On the left, across the Elizabeth River, is the Norfolk Navy Yard. The ships shown in the middle of photo are the receiving ships USS Richmond (left) and USS Franklin (right), at the St Helena Training Ground of the US Navy, circa 1913-1915.
    Image by Harry Cowles Mann. Property of the Norfolk Public Library (Va.), Sargeant Memorial Collection.    		 Brian Baird
    Franklin 202k USS Franklin, an article taken from the "Army and Navy Register" October 16, 1915. Ron Reeves
    Franklin 78k USS Franklin serving as a Receiving Ship the St. Helena Annex, Norfolk, Naval Yard, circa 1877-1915.
    US Navy photo, courtesy US Naval Institute    		 Tommy Trampp
    Franklin 349k Two views of the stricken hulk ex-USS Franklin (1867-1915), at Eastport, Maine, just before, and during, her burning by scrappers, 3 October 1916.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 54195, courtesy of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, (MC) USN 1932.    		 Mike Green
    USS Franklin (IV)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Shirk, James W.3 June 1867 - 1868
    02CAPT. Rodgers, C.R.P. 1869 - ?
    03CAPT. Parker, Foxhall A. ? - 13 November 1871
    04Decommissioned13 November 1871 - 14 December 1873
    05CAPT. Franklin, Samuel R15 December 1873 - ?
    06CAPT. Ramson, George M. 1877 - 1878
    07CAPT. Gillis, James H. 1878 - ?
    08CAPT. Fytte, Joseph 1881 - 1882
    09CAPT. Taylor, Bushrod B.1882 - 1883
    10CAPT. Beardslee, Lester A.1883 - 1884
    11CAPT. Wilson, Henry 1884 - 1886
    12CAPT. Wiltse, Gilbert C.1887 - 1888
    13CAPT. Cooke, Augustus P.1890 - 1891
    14CAPT. McGlensey, John F. 1891 - 1892
    15CAPT. Johnson, Mortimer L.1895 - 1896
    16CAPT. Terry, Silas W. 1896 - 1898
    17CAPT. Wise, William Clinton1898 - ?
    Courtesy Bill Gonyo
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    Last Updated 27 August 2021