Американская шхуна «Олбани» 1846 года: История службы.

American sloop in 1846

USS Albany, the first United States Navy ship of that name, The ship measured 147 feet (45 m) long between perpendiculars and she had a beam of 38 feet (12 m). Albany had a draft of 17 feet (5 m) and had a tonnage of 1042 tons burthen. The ship had a crew of 210 officers and enlisted men. She could maintain a speed of Albany could mount up to four shell guns and eighteen cannon. By 1853, she was armed with six 8 inch guns and sixteen 32 pounder cannon.

The sloop put to sea for her first cruise on 26 November 1846 and joined the Home Squadron—then engaged in operations against Mexican forces—on 8 January 1847 at Anton Lizardo. Soon thereafter, however, she left the Mexican coast for an independent cruise to the vicinity of the Azores. Upon her return to the east coast of Mexico early in March, Albany guarded the transport anchorage at Isla Verde in preparation for General Winfield Scott's operations against Veracruz. During the 9 March amphibious action, Albany landed the reserve elements under Brigadier General David E. Twiggs. Because the Mexican leaders chose not to oppose the landings, Albany saw no combat. Later, on 22 March, the sloop of war sent one of her eight inch shell guns and its crew ashore to assist in the siege of Veracruz. After Veracruz surrendered on 29 March, Albany moved to the next objective—Alvarado. The Mexican forces, however, had already abandoned that port; and Lieutenant Charles G. Hunter, commanding Scourge, which arrived first, took possession of the town. Albany soon headed for another target—Tuxpan. She and the other ships of the squadron arrived at the mouth of the Tuxpan River on the morning of 17 April. Capt. Breese—commanding Albany—then formed his landing party of over 1,500 sailors and marines drawn from all ships in the squadron. They embarked in the barges and the six ships chosen to ascend the river and capture Tuxpan. Although Albany herself did not participate in the action, Breese and his landing party did. From 18 to 22 April, Breese's force moved up the river, engaged and captured two artillery batteries, destroyed fortifications and military equipment at Tuxpan, and then retired down the river to rejoin the squadron. When the American warships dispersed to various blockade stations along the eastern coast of Mexico, Albany and Reefer remained off the mouth of the Tuxpan River.

Between 15 November 1848 and the latter part of 1853, the sloop made three more extended deployments in the Caribbean West Indies area as a unit of the Home Squadron. On 12 December 1853, Albany set sail from Boston, Massachusetts. In May 1854, the commander had filed a report with the Secretary of the Navy James C. Dobbin that the main mast of Albany was unseaworthy. On 20 May, Victor Randolph, the former commander of Albany and now commanding officer (pro tem) of the Naval Yard Warrington, reported that an appropriate mast had been identified and was ready for Albany. During the replacement of the main mast, there was also some discussion of the condition of the fore mast. Apparently both were replaced.

Initially, Gerry had instructions to sail to San Juan, Cartagena, and Aspinwall (now Colón, Panama), and Albany set out on 29 June. By 11 August, instructions ordered Gerry to pass along the coast and to investigate a suspicious ship lurking near Saint Thomas. Additional instructions, sent separately, told Gerry to continue patrolling the Windward Islands and Grand Turk. On 28 September, Commander Gerry sent a report updating his superiors on the cruise, dispatched from Aspinwall. By early December, the steamer USS Princeton had returned from searching for the missing sloop, which had not been seen or heard from on any of the channels frequented by ship traffic of the British West Indies. In late December, a report surfaced that the vessel had arrived at Cartagena safely, but this report was apparently in error, possibly generated by the arrival of the report that Gerry had mailed before leaving Aspinwall at the end of September. By this time, the Navy's steam ships were searching the area for Albany. The steamer USS Fulton searched from January to May from Cartagena to Aspinwall, the Bay of Darien, into the Bay of Guatemala, and along the Mosquito Coast. By January 1856, after an exhaustive search of 15 months, the ship was given up as lost.

The Department of the Navy requested an inquiry into the loss, which was passed on to the appropriate Senate Committee. A second craft, Porpoise, had been lost in a typhoon while conducting an exploratory cruise of the Bonins, the Ladrones, and the Mariana islands. By resolution of the Senate, a fund was provided for the widows and orphans of the officers, mariners, and seamen of both ships. Furthermore, the appropriate wages were paid to the families (including parents, brothers, or sisters) of the men lost, despite the loss of the account books of purser Nixon White. In the case of Rowland Leach, the ship's carpenter, this amounted to $1559, including $779 for a year's gratuitous pay ordered by the Department of the Navy.

As of 30 June 1854, the crew of Albany consisted of 18 officers, 156 seaman, and 23 Marines. It is likely the ship's complement was little changed when she was lost three months later.

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Tucker, Spencer. Encyclopedia of Mexican American War: A Political, Social and Military history., ABC CLIO, 2013. USS Albany Association Inc. USS Albany Organization. Tallahassee, FL.