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USS Adirondack (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Ossipee Class Sloop-of-War:

Laid down in 1861 by the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. - Machinery built by at Novelty Iron Works, N.Y.

Launched, 22 February 1862

Commissioned USS Adirondack, 30 June 1862, CDR.. Guert Gansevoort, USN in command.

On 11 July USS Adirondack was ordered by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to sail to the West Indies to Investigate intelligence reaching Washington that the British-built screw steamer Oreto had arrived at the island of New Providence and, although constructed under the pretext of being a merchantman destined for service under the Italian Government, was in reality a cruiser which was then being fitted out as a Confederate commerce raider.

USS Adirondack departed New York, 17 July 1862 and set course for the Bahamas

Six days out, she chanced upon a schooner and, after a two-hour chase, boarded the stranger which proved to be a Baltimore-built vessel Emma which was operating out of Nassau under a British colonial register. CAPT. Gansevoort sent her to Philadelphia under a prize crew. Since the schooner's master had only recently arrived in the West Indies in command of the blockade runner Ann E. Barry, and since Emma was laden with ". . . articles of great need in the south Gansevoort sent her to Philadelphia under a prize crew.

Two days later on the 25th, when in sight of Nassau but beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the British Empire, Gansevoort sighted a steamer standing in for Nassau." He gave chase firing upon the fleeing ship; but, this time, his quarry's speed enabled her to reach the neutral port safely. Some two hours later, a boat from the Royal Navy sloop of war HMS Greyhound pulled alongside Adirondack as she approached Nassau and delivered a letter to the U.S. warship protesting her role in the chase and informing Gansevoort that the elusive steamer was named Herald and had been struck two or three times with shot during the action. Shortly thereafter, Adirondack anchored in the roadstead off Nassau harbor, and Gansevoort sent Greyhound's commanding officer a written reply to the protest, justifying his course of action. He then went ashore. where he learned that Herald was commanded by the notorious rebel CAPT. Coxetter, formerly captain of the rebel privateer Jeff Davis had returned from Charleston laden with cotton after delivering a cargo of ammunition to that Confederate port.

Since Adirondack had encountered extremely severe weather during her passage out from New York, she remained at Nassau for three days undergoing voyage repairs and replenishing her coal bunkers. Gansevoort took advantage of his ship's stay in port to learn of conditions there before sailing for the Virginia capes on 28 July 1862. Upon arriving at Hampton Roads on 4 August, he reported that Oreto was indeed a Confederate cruiser, but that she was then in charge of a prize crew from the Greyhound, and proceedings have been instituted in the admiralty court of the Bahamas for her condemnation for a violation of the foreign enlistment act of Great Britain. His dispatch to Washington also stated that sentiment in the Bahamas was strongly in favor of the South. Thus the outcome of the judicial action against the warship, which would later be freed and win fame as the Southern raider Florida, was in doubt.

On 12 August 1862, Secretary of the Navy Welles ordered Adirondack to proceed to Port Royal, S.C., to report to RADM. Samuel F. Du Pont, USN for duty in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron

The next day, a report reached Washington that another British built cruiser which would later prey on Union shipping as CSS Alabama had slipped out of England and was heading for Nassau. Anxiety over this new threat prompted Welles to send Adirondack back to the Bahamas to investigate. Nevertheless, before this message reached Hampton Roads, the steamer had sailed for Port Royal in compliance with her orders of the 12th. Word of her new mission finally caught up with her there on the 18th and she got underway for Nassau that afternoon.

Final Disposition, all went well until the morning of the 23rd until Adirondack struck a reef off the northeast point of Man of War Cay of the Little Bahama Bank group. The shock immediately disabled her engine, and daylong efforts by the ship's crew,with the aid of local wreckers, proved futile. That evening, with her back broken and her keel forced up through the engine room, the ship bilged. Fortunately, she suffered no casualties among her ship's complement.

Specifications:
Displacement 1,240 t.
Length 207'1"
Beam 38'
Depth of Hold 16'10"
Draft forward, 7'6", aft 10'2"
Speed 14 kts.
Complement 160

Armament

two 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbores

four 32-pdr 57cwt smoothbores

two 24-pdr Dahlgren smoothbores

one light 12-pdr smoothbore

Sail Plan auxiliary

Propulsion

two 42 in (110 cm) cylinder, 30 in (76 cm) stroke horizontal back-acting steam engines

twp Martin's patent boilers

14 ft 3 in (4.34 m) screw propeller

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Source
098697701	32k	USS Adirondack at anchor, date and location unknown. Wrecksite.eu		Purchased by John Spivey

Adirondack (I)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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Last Updated 17 June 2022