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USS Yorktown (1840)

History of the USS Yorktown (1840)

In 1815, the total strength of the United States Navy consisted of 18 battleshipsUSS ??Independence, a 90-gun battleship, 5 frigates, 2 sloops, 7 brigs, and 3 schooners. After the war against Britain in 1812, the United States needed new ships to protect America's maritime trade and the efforts of the whaling fleet after the global whale migration.

The first USS Yorktown was named after the Battle of Yorktown during the Revolutionary War, in which British commander Cornwallis was sandwiched between the French fleet and General George Washington's U.S. forces. On October 19, 1781, General Cornwallis and 8,000 British troops surrendered, ending the American War. The USS Yorktown is a sloop, the fifth and final ship in the USS Dale class. Dhows are smaller than frigates, but large enough for "blue water" operations.

They were destroyers of the time, and frigates were equipped with different types of guns, usually with less than 18 guns installed.

The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown was built at the Norfolk Naval Yard, launched in 1839, and her commissioning date was 15 November 1840. She had three masts with a total of 18 sails, and her hull was painted black with a horizontal white stripe on the muzzle on either side.

The bow has a white bowsprit with a double dolphin figure. The gun deck was located one deck below the main or rear deck and housed 16 x 32 pounders aligned with the muzzles, 8 on port and 8 on starboard.

In mid-October 1844, Yorktown was assigned to the African Slave Trade Patrol and left New York for the Funchal Islands, Madeira, Portugal, as her first supply port before joining the African Squadron in late November . The Yorktown mission is a simple self-regulatory operation that stops every suspicious American vessel from inspecting its cargo. On September 27, 1845, Yorktown covered a large area along the east coast of Africa for 10 months before boarding the American ship USS Patuxent off the coast of Cape Mountain. The ship's manifest indicated that the cargo was sugar cane, but upon inspection it was found to be carrying slaves. The captain of the Patuxent said his ship was built for the "Blackbird," which is seen by many as an alternative to slavery, as many of the kidnapped or "Blackbirds" are said to be poorly paid and technically Speaking of which, it didn't make them slaves.

When slaves are found on Patuxent, they are fed and given as much freedom as possible. The ship then went ashore with the freed slaves, a process that often kept slaves away from their natural homes and with no guarantee of long-term survival.

Two more slave ships were found in Yorktown, the Pons at Kabenda on 30 September 1845 and the Panther at Kabenda on 15 December 1845. Both ships were seized and their manned cargo released. Yorktown continued to sail the coast of Africa until May 1846, when she was recalled to the United States and docked at Boston on May 29. She again had to be repaired and was decommissioned on June 9, 1846.

She spent about 29 months in the Reserves before returning to service in the Port of Boston, supplying and crewing her second assignment with Squadron Africa. She left Boston waters on November 22, 1848. She was tasked with continuing to inspect ships while patrolling the east coast of Africa.

However, the trip brought no luck in finding the slave ship.

On September 6, 1850, while sailing in uncharted waters in the Cape Verde Islands, the aircraft carrier Yorktown encountered a hidden coral reef about a mile off Mayo Island. Yorktown's keel broke and caused massive damage when opening the reef, before breaking and sinking. Fortunately, none of their hands died.

Her captain, Commander William Harwar Parker, spent 32 quiet days in the sun on Maio Island awaiting her sister ship, the USS Dale, on 10 He was rescued when he arrived on the island on 8 August. The USS Dale picked up Captain Parker and his crew, and within days all were transferred to the USS Portsmouth, which was called up to take them to their homeport in Norfolk, Virginia.

The crew of the battered USS Yorktown rejoiced at their successful mission to free some 1,000 Africans from their shackles. They arrived in Norfolk in early December 1850, two years after leaving home.

The crew of the USS Yorktown received their earnings and were sent home for Christmas before being transferred to a new ship.