U.S.S. Alarm (1873)
| U.S.S. Alarm (1873) | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | New York Navy Yard[1] |
| Laid down: | 1873[2] |
| Launched: | 13 November, 1873[3] |
| Commissioned: | 2 November, 1874[4] |
| Decommissioned: | 1885[5] |
| Stricken: | 1897 |
| Sold: | 23 February, 1898[6] |
| Fate: | Broken up |
U.S.S. Alarm was a torpedo ram completed for the U.S. Navy in 1874.
Construction
Alarm's general plan was laid out by David Dixon Porter with the specific design work by Isaiah Hanscom. Her hull was iron with a 32-foot ram bow containing a submerged spar torpedo.[7] She was meant as "a cruising torpedo boat, carrying a bow gun, and intended for service not only in rivers, bays, and harbors, but along the sea-coast; in fact, for use under any of the conditions of littoral warfare, and her dimensions and form were peculiarly adapted by her designer for that purpose."[8]
Like her counterpart Intrepid she was constructed, at least in part, for the experimental work of the Bureau of Ordnance. Her engines were contracted to and designed by Morgan Iron Works, and were ordered on 23 December, 1871, well before construction of the ship began. Alarm was launched on 13 November, 1873.
Service
After commissioning Alarm operated from Washington, D.C. for Bureau of Ordnance duties until 1877 when she moved north to the Torpedo Station at Newport for experimental work there. She returned to Washington in 1878, and resumed special service. In 1880, she began a tour of experimental work at New York which she carried out until she was laid up at the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1883. However, she resumed her research duties at New York in 1884, and served there until she was placed out of commission in 1885 and berthed at the New York Navy Yard.
According to the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, what records there are indicate that Alarm probably remained out of commission from that time forward. In 1890 and 1891 she was undergoing conversion to a gunnery training ship to operate in company with the Lancaster, but her armament was "probably never fitted".[9] From 1892 to 1894, she remained at New York. In 1895, she was listed as "in ordinary", and in 1897 her name was struck from the Navy list. She was sold on 23 February, 1898.
Captains
Dates of appointment are provided when known.
- Commander Augustus P. Cooke, 2 November, 1874[10] – June 1875[11]
- Lieutenant Francis M. Barber, after June 1875[12] – 1875[13]
- Lieutenant Commander William Bainbridge Hoff, 1875[14] – 1876[15]
- Lieutenant Commander William E. Sewell, 1881[16] – 1882[17]
Armament
As Completed
- one 15-inch smoothbore
- three spar torpedoes
As Gunnery Training Ship
- one 6-inch breech-loading rifle
- three spar torpedoes
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Bauer and Roberts. Register of Ships. p. 83.
- ↑ Bauer and Roberts. Register of Ships. p. 83.
- ↑ Bauer and Roberts. Register of Ships. p. 83.
- ↑ Bauer and Roberts. Register of Ships. p. 83.
- ↑ Silverstone. The New Navy. p. 1.
- ↑ Bauer and Roberts. Register of Ships. p. 83.
- ↑ Bauer and Roberts. Register of Ships. p. 83.
- ↑ Report on the Mallory Steering and Propelling Screw. p. 3.
- ↑ Bauer and Roberts. Register of Ships. p. 85.
- ↑ Records of Living Officers (5th ed). p. 101.
- ↑ Records of Living Officers (5th ed). p. 101.
- ↑ Records of Living Officers (3th ed). p. 212.
- ↑ Records of Living Officers (3th ed). p. 212.
- ↑ Records of Living Officers (3th ed). p. 188.
- ↑ Records of Living Officers (3th ed). p. 188.
- ↑ Records of Living Officers (4th ed). p. 211.
- ↑ Records of Living Officers (4th ed). p. 211.
- ↑ Bauer and Roberts. Register of Ships. pp. 83, 85.
Bibliography
- Bauer, K. Jack and Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. New York: Greenwood Press.
- Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). The U.S. Navy Warship Series: Civil War Navies, 1855-1883. New York: Routledge.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). The U.S. Navy Warship Series: The New Navy 1883-1922. New York: Routledge.
| Torpedo Ram U.S.S. Alarm | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Torpedo Boats (US) | U.S.S. Intrepid | –> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
