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USS RALEIGH (1776)
European
powers formerly estimated the strength of their navies
mainly on the number of their ship-of-the-line ships.
Those were large warship with at least two gun decks and
designed to be positioned for battle in a line with
other such ships. However, in 1776, when America went to
war with England, they soon found out how effective
American frigates were, and also how quickly Americans
built them. The USS Raleigh was a shiny example: sixty days.
USS Raleigh
was launched on May 21, 1776. The 32-gun frigate's keel was laid on March 21,
1776 at the shipyard of John Langdon on what is now
Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine. USS
Raleigh was one of thirteen ships that the Continental
Congress authorized for the Continental Navy in 1775.
Raleigh
was put to sea under Captain Thomas Thompson, who
also supervised her construction, on August 12, 1777.
Shortly thereafter, she joined USS Alfred and sailed for
France. Three days out they captured a schooner carrying
counterfeit Massachusetts money. Burning the schooner
and her cargo, the frigates
continued their transatlantic passage. On September 2
they captured the British brig, Nancy, and from her they
obtained the signals of the convoy which the brig had
been escorting from the rear. Giving chase, the
Americans closed with the convoy on September 4, 1777.
USS
Raleigh, making use of the captured signals, intercepted
the convoy and engaged 32-gun HMS Druid. In the ensuing battle
she badly damaged Druid, but the approach of the other British
escorts, HMS Camel and Weazel forced her to retire.
On
December 29, 1777, Raleigh and Alfred, having taken on
military stores, set sail from L'Orient, France,
following a course that took them along the coast of
Africa. After capturing British vessel "Granville" off
the Bar of the Senegal River, USS Raleigh crossed the
Atlantic Ocean to the West Indies. On March 9, 1778, in
the Lesser Antilles, Alfred, at some distance from Raleigh,
was captured by the British ships HMS Ariadne and HMS Ceres.
USS Raleigh, unable to reach USS Alfred in time to
assist her, continued north and returned to New England
early in April 1778.
USS Raleigh was captured
in 1778. English
naval authorities, so impressed by American frigates, had her put into dry
dock at Portsmouth in 1779, and made a copy of her
model. Raleigh served in the Royal Navy as HMS
Raleigh. In May 1780, she
was decommissioned at Portsmouth, England.
This primarily
wood model of the USS Raleigh model
is 29" long
$3,790. Shipping and insurance
in the contiguous USA included, other places: $400. This
model will be completed soon. If you are interested,
send us an email for updates.
Learn more
about the USS Raleigh 1776 here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Raleigh_(1776)
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