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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Perry (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Brigantine:

Laid down at Norfolk Navy Yard, date unknown

Launched in May 1843

Commissioned USS Perry, 13 October 1843, CDR. Samuel F. Du Pont USN in command

Perry's first mission from 3 December 1843 to 4 November 1844 was to retrieve Caleb Cushing, the first American Commissioner to China, from Macao and return him to the west coast of Mexico for an overland journey to Vera Cruz to catch a ship home

Perry continued her Pacific service by sailing to the Society Islands and the Marqueasa to help American whalers win respect and fair dealing

The brig arrived at Norfolk, 17 September 1845 and was decommissioned there, 25 September 1845

USS Perry recommissioned, 16 May 1846, three days after war was declared on Mexico, and sailed for the Gulf of Mexico to blockade Mexican ports

Dismasted in a hurricane while enroute and returned to Philadelphia for repairs, 4 December 1846

Perry departed Philadelphia, 16 May 1847, to join the Brazil Squadron protecting American interests between Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires

Seized the American slavers barks Ann D. Richardson and Independence off Rio De Janeiro in December 1847

Decommissioned at Norfolk, 14 July 1849

Recommissioned, 17 November 1849, for service off the west coast of Africa to help suppress the slave trade

In ordinary at New York, 26 December 1851 to 27 April 1852, returning to duties off the west coast of Africa

Recommissioned, 20 March 1851 to April 1852

Perry participation in Commodore Perry's opening of Japan in July 1853 entering Tokyo Bay, 8 July 1853

Decommissioned, 20 July 1854, at Norfolk

Returned to in ordinary status until recommissioned, 21 January 1858 to participate in the Water Witch expedition to Paraguay using sea power where diplomacy had failed to earn respect for the United States, indemnity for the family of an American sailor killed and a commercial treaty advantageous to the United States

The brig returned to New York 5 June 1860 and decommissioned there, 15 June 1860

Recommissioned, 23 April 1861

During the Civil War USS Perry:

Escorted three transports carrying some 3,000 troops to Annapolis where they landed, 25 June reinforce the 7th Infantry Regiment

Reinforced forces around the Nation's threatened capital

Joined the Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Hampton Roads, 18 May 1861

Captured Confederate blockade runner Hannah M. near Cape Lookout, N.C., 31 May 1861

The brig took Confederate privateer Savannah 3 June, 1861, turned two British ships away from the Southern coast before reaching her blockade station off the mouth of the St. Mary's River

USS Perry returned to Washington Navy Yard for repairs, 21 July, 1861, served with the Potomac Squadron for rest of year capturing sloops, Blooming Youth and Ellen Jane

Served at Aspinwall, Colombia from 15 May to 13 November 1862

Decommissioned at New York, 3 January 1863, for repairs

Perry recommissioned, 28 February 1863, taking station off New Inlet, N.C., capturing schooners Sue, 31 March and Alma, 1 May 1863

After repairs at Boston Perry joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Port Royal, S. C. 15 November, 1863, participating in the siege of Charleston

The brig sailed, 28 January 1864, to the blockade station off Fernandina, FL. where she remained until the end of the Civil War

USS Perry decommissioned at Philadelphia, 29 April, 1865

Sold at public auction there 10 August 1865

Final Disposition, fate unknown

Specifications:
Displacement 280 t.
Length 105'
Beam 25' 6"
Draft 13' 2"
Depth of Hold 12' 3"
Complement 67
Speed unknown

Armament

two 32-pdrs

six 32-pdr carronades

Propulsion sail

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
	94k	*Namesake* Portrait in oils of Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, U.S.N (1785-1819) by Edward L. Mooney (1813-1887) after John Wesley Jarvis (1839). Painting in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum Collection. Transferred from the U.S. Naval Lyceum, 1892. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. Photo #: KN-2783.	Bill Gonyo/Robert Hurst
	111k	USS Perry confronting the American slaver *Martha* off the coast of west Africa, 7 June 1850 from Africa and the American Flag by Commodore Andrew Hull Foote who commanded *Perry* in 1850.	Tommy Trampp
098654502	269k	Black and white photo of a watercolor painting attributed to the artist Warren of USS Perry capturing the slaver *Martha, 7 June 1850, off the coast of west Africa. U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command photo # USN 902981*	Robert Hurst
	294k	US Navy ships of the Japanese Squadron, established to promote free trade with Japan in 1852. From left to right: USS Susquehanna, USS Saratoga, USS St. Mary's, USS Supply, USS Plymouth, USS Perry, USS Mississippi and USS Princeton. From ~ The Archive of the Old Print Man ~ "Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion", Boston, 1852.	Tommy Trampp
098654504	157k	Painting by Fritz Müller, "Capture of the Savannah by the USS Perry, 1861". Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. United States National Gallery of Art. ID 50821.	Robert Hurst
098654503	144k	Officers from USS Perry on a visit to the African Kingdom of Ambrizette, Congo Ð an audience with the Queen. Image extracted from page 325 of Africa and the American Flag, by Commodore Andrew Hull Foote. New York, 1854. Original held and digitised by the British Library. This file is from Mechanical Curator collection a set of over 1 million images scanned from out-of-copyright books and released to Flickr Commons by the British Library.	Robert Hurst

USS Perry (I)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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This page is created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Michael Junge

Last Updated 30 May 2023