CREATIONS BY DUGIE Norman "Dugie" Russell |
In 1814, with the War of 1812 still raging at sea, the Congress of the United States appropriated money for construction of six new 74 gun ships of the- Line. Among the vessels of the new class of warships was one to be named the U.S.S. ALABAMA. Her designer was William Doughty who, 20 years earlier, had designed “Old Ironsides”, the U.S.S. CONSTITUTION. In 1816, contacts for the ALABAMA were let. Paul Revere, who with his two sons had a copper and silver-smithing business in Canton, Massachusetts, won the contract for the bronze and copper work on the ALABAMA. In 1819, the year after Revere died, the construction of the ship was well underway, but the following year further funds needed to complete the new ship-of-the-line were denied. The era of good feeling had arrived in the U.S., and coupled with the country’s efforts to develop internally, an era of naval and military isolation took hold. The ALABAMA lay in the shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, partially completed until 1861 when war Between the States erupted. The ALABAMA, renamed the NEW HAMPSHIRE, was completed and commissioned. She was assigned to the Union’s blockade fleet off the coast of the Carolinas, and there with other Union naval ships she sought to strangle the rebellious South. After the war she was assigned to Newport, Rhode Island, where she saw service as a supply vessel. She was decommissioned June 5, 1892; the following year being loaned as a training ship for the New York state naval militia. The NEW HAMPSHIRE was renamed the GRANITE STATE on November 30, 1904 so that her state name could be assigned to a newly authorized battleship. On May 23, 1921 she caught fire and sank at her pier in the Hudson River. Her hull was sold for salvage on August 19, 1921 to the Mulholland Machinery Corp. Refloated in July, 1922, she was being towed to the Bay of Fundy to be beached on a flood-tide and burnt for her copper and bronze fastenings. While in tow the ship caught fire again. It was thought to be caused by men on board cooking on a stove. The ship became engulfed in flames off of Marblehead, Mass. The towline parted and the flaming hulk drifted to Graves Island off Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Length 203’ 8” Beam 51’ 4” Weight 2633 ton |
| History of the U.S.S. New Hampshire |
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| ONE OF THE FEW PHOTOS OF THIS BEAUTIFUL SHIP OF THE LINE |
| THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN OFF THE CAROLINAS WHILE SHE WAS BEING USED AS A STORE SHIP DURING THE CIVIL WAR |
| THE NEW HAMPSHIRE UNDER TOW SOMEWHERE IN NEW YORK HARBOR |
| THIS BOY, OF A VERY YOUNG AGE, WAS KNOWN AS A “POWDER MONKEY” |
| THIS PICTURE SHOWING THE DECK OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE REVEALS ONLY A SMALL PORTION OF THIS ENORMOUS VESSEL |
| THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN IN NEW YORK SHORTLY AFTER THE FIRE THAT SUNK THE SHIP FOR THE FIRST TIME |
| THIS PICTURE WAS HUDSON RIVER IN THE EARLY NINETEEN HUNDREDS. THE NEW YORK NAVY MILITIA USED HER AS AN THIS PICTURE WAS ARMORY AND TAKEN ON THE TRAINING VESSEL. THE GUN PORTS HAVE BEEN REPLACED WITH WINDOWS AND SHE HAS ONLY 1/4 OF HER ORIGINAL RIGGING LEFT |
