The USS Princeton was
supposed to be the future of the United
States Navy. Fairly bursting with new technology, it was likely the most advanced warship of its class in
the world, surpassing even anything
floated the British Royal Navy, then
the undisputed master of the oceans of
the globe.
She was the vision of Captain Robert F. Stockton, a politically well-connected former Senator from New Jersey and the beau
ideal of a dashing officer. After resuming a naval career interrupted by years in business and politics, he turned down an
offer by President John Tyler to
become Secretary of the Navy,
preferring an active command,
preferably on the new class of war ship
he envisioned.
It was Stockton’s passion—and political clout—that convinced the Navy and a notoriously tight-fisted Congress
to authorize the construction of
a steam powered corvette armed by two heavy guns capable of throwing shot or
shell up to five miles. Her speed,
punch, and long range would make her a threat
to even the heaviest ship of the
line.
A breaktrough modern marvel and the pride of the Navy, the USS Pinceton |
She was designed leading naval architect and inventor of the era, Swedish-born John Ericsson, who would later win
fame as the designer of the Civil
War ironclad USS Monitor. The sleek 969-ton ship had three masts with square rigging under sail.
But her breakthrough was her engines and propulsion.
Ericsson designed two vibrating lever steam engines built by Merrick & Towne, of Philadelphia.
The advanced engines burned Pennsylvania
hard coal rather than bulky and inefficient wood. They were installed totally below the ship’s water line and turned a six-bladed screw propeller 14 feet in diameter mounted aft. She would be the first warship in the world to abandon side or stern paddle wheels and be propelled by a screw. Another innovation,
the smoke funnel could fold down when she was running under sail to get out of the way of the spars.
Swede John Ericsson, a naval architect and inventor was the inovative genious behind the Princenton and one of her massive guns. Too bad he didn't have input on the second. |
The keel to the new ship, named for Captain Stockton’s home town, was laid at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on October 20,
1842. Ericsson personally supervised the
construction under the watchful and
probably meddlesome eye of Stockton
himself.
She was launched and commissioned in September 1843 with Stockton in command. Following a test run on the Delaware
River, the Princeton was taken
out for sea trial in October. After running
up the coast to New York City,
Stockton matched her in a race
against the famed British steam packet
SS
Great Western which in those years perpetually
held the speed records for transatlantic
crossing. It was a sprint rather than a long race, but the Princeton won handily
making newspaper headlines and
establishing her as a legitimate threat against
the lumbering armadas of the world.
In January of 1843 she was ready for regular service and Stockton
took her to New York to be fitted with her two massive guns. Both were smooth bore muzzle loading 12” wrought iron cannons capable of firing a 225-pound shot 5 miles with 50-pound charge. The guns were so impressive that each was given
a name.
Despite their similarities, however, there was a critical difference. The Orator,
soon renamed the Oregon as a taunt to
the British over the disputed
boundary of that territory, was designed by Ericsson and cast at the Mersey
Iron Works in England in 1841 and shipped to the states awaiting the ship who could handle it. Critically, in a dramatic innovation the breech was re-enforced with a built-up
construction application red-hot iron hoops which pre-tensioned the gun and greatly
increased the charge the breech could withstand.
Unfortunately, the Navy did not have enough money to have two
guns manufactured in England. Instead
Stockton sought to duplicate the
capabilities of the gun by supervising the creation of the Peacemaker at Hogg and Delamater in New York City. Stockton never
consulted Erickson and did not appreciate
the critical importance of the re-enforcing rings. Instead he attempted to achieve the same results by simply by making the breech thicker.
He did not realize that given the innate
brittle nature of wrought iron, the new breech could not withstand the huge sudden build-up of pressure when being
fired. Sooner or later it would fail catastrophically.
Both guns benefited from another
Ericson innovation, a re-coil absorption
system that would keep the ship from being rolled by the power of its gun blasts.
After they were fitted, Stockton test fired the guns a few times before
sailing to Washington to show off and to lobby for funds to build a whole flotilla of Princeton class
corvettes. After arriving in January of
1844, Stockton showed her off on several
short cruised on the Potomac in
February with Navy brass and important civilians as passengers. On each occasion she fired her guns at least
once.
But the big day was February
28. On that day she picked up President
Tyler, his Cabinet, assorted politicians, and even iconic former First Lady Dolly Madison at Alexandria,
Virginia. The cruise was a gay affair as visitors crowded the deck to witness a firing of
the two great guns. After a break for an elegant lunch below decks
most of the visitors returned to the deck for one more thrilling test
fire. President Tyler, who could not abide the noise, remained below.
On the second firing of the
Peacemaker the breech exploded. Killed
instantly were Secretary of State
Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the
Navy Thomas Gilmer, Chief of the
Bureau of Construction Equipment and Repairs Capt. Beverly Kennon, Virgil Maxcy former ChargĂ© d’Affaires to Belgium, Colonel David Gardiner of New York, the President’s slave and valet Armistead, and two
sailors. Several others, including,
including Missouri Senator Thomas Hart
Benton Stockton, were injured by shrapnel.
The President and the lovely Miss Julia Gardiner who had been sharing private time below, rushed to the deck to find a scene of horror and carnage. When Miss Gardner discovered her father among the dead, she collapsed into the President’s arms. The two were later married.
There was an understandable public outrage at the accident that had nearly obliterated the whole administration. Both Congress and the Navy launched investigations. It would have meant the end of a career to any other officer, but Stockton was well protected politically. A Court
of Inquiry investigating the cause of the explosion exonerated Stockton blaming the
explosion on Ericsson who had nothing to
do with the design or construction of the Peacemaker. This understandably
embittered Ericsson who refused to
work again for the Navy until the emergency
of the Civil War.
Stockton was promoted to Commodore
and won fame in the Mexican War as the commander of the Navy squadron that helped seize California. He was subsequently
named first military governor and
had a town named after him. He later served as a Democratic Senator from New Jersey and attempted to mediate a peaceful solution to southern secession. He was named commander of the New Jersey
Militia when fears of a Southern
invasion were at their height. He died full of honors in 1866.
The once proud Princeton fared worse. She served
in the Home Squadron until 1847 and
was then assigned duty in the Mediterranean
which caused her to miss action in
the Mexican war. Upon return to the
United States in 1849 her timbers were
found rotting from poor maintenance. She was decommissioned
and broken up for scrap at the Boston Navy Yard on June 17, 1849 after
less than six years active service.
Congress never approved plans for a flotilla of Princeton class ships, which
would have been invaluable in maintaining the blockade of the South during the Civil War.
Two years later her innovative twin
engines were used in a new Princeton, the
first of five successors bearing
that name including a famous World War
II aircraft carrier lost at the
Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 and
a guided missile cruiser commissioned
in 1989, currently in active service.
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