USF Confederacy History

   By the mid to late 1770’s American shipyards had begun turning out major warships instead of smaller vessels primarily geared toward traveling the coasts, rivers, and tidal estuaries of the Atlantic seaboard. It was also an innovative and experimental time, as American shipbuilders differentiated themselves from British shipbuilders. In particular, American ships tended to be larger than their European counterparts.

Characteristics 

    The Confederacy was an early result of such ‘experimentation’ by American ship yards. In many ways, she was ahead of her time. She more resembled the “galley frigates” built the century prior and included ‘sweeps’ which are essentially long oars. This gave these types of ships the ability to move even in calm waters. That meant the Confederacy was lighter and more swift than other ships, while also large enough to carry 36 guns if needed – a heavier battery than nearly any other ship in the Continental Navy.

     However, in order to allow for manual power and swiftness, she was also built much more shallow and narrow in comparison to it’s length. It also meant that it had lighter crossbeams or ‘scantlings’ and much less room for storage and provisions. This downside gave the Confederacy limited endurance and she had to make frequent stops to refill provisions.

     The Confederacy was also built very quickly, necessitated by need. That meant much of her was built with wood that was acquired in short order and was much more green that it should have been. The green wood lead to a fundamental amount of premature rotting and frequent repairs. This, combined with the aforementioned shortcomings, gave the Confederacy a short life. She was broken up just two years after being captured by the British .

Service

    Laid Down: 1777, Huntington Yard, Thames River, Connecticut
    Launched:  November 8, 1778
    Commissioned:  April 1779
    Length: 154 ft    Breadth: 37 ft   Depth: 12.5 ft   Draft: 14ft
    Displacement: 971 tons
    Compliment: 260 Officers & Crew
    Armament:  28 x 12lbs   8 x 6lbs

   The Confederacy spent her early days patrolling the Atlantic coast until in September of 1779 she was called upon to transport the US Ambassador to Spain, John Jay to his post. She never made it however as she was dismasted by a hurricane three months into the voyage and diverted for repairs before returning to Philadelphia for a full refit.

After escorting a few convoys in the West Indies, she was confronted by the HMS Roebuck, a 44-gun warship, and the HMS Orpheus, a 32-gun frigate and surrendered without incident. The Confederacy was taken into the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Confederate.  However, due to her issues with rotting and unusual design, she wasn’t a good fit or worth the cost of repairs and was broken up in March of 1782.