Franklin (1864)

Franklin (1864) was a wooden steam frigate completed for the United States Navy during the late stages of the American Civil War. Ordered from the New York Navy Yard and launched in 1864, she embodied transitional naval architecture combining steam propulsion with full sailing rig and heavy broadside armament. Although she saw limited wartime action due to the timing of her completion, Franklin participated in postwar activities associated with the Reconstruction Era and naval demonstrations that reflected evolving naval architecture and naval practice.

Background and commissioning

Franklin was ordered amid the American Civil War naval expansion driven by the Union blockade strategy advocated by Anaconda proponents and implemented under Gideon Welles. Construction at the New York Navy Yard occurred alongside other contemporary vessels such as Monadnock, Hartford, and New Ironsides. Her keel was laid as part of a broader program that produced ships influenced by experiences from the Battle of Hampton Roads and the emergence of ironclad technology championed by innovators like John Ericsson and designers influenced by Isaac Stevens-era experiments. Commissioning in 1864 followed sea trials overseen by officers commissioned from the United States Naval Academy and staff aligned with Admiral David Farragut’s Atlantic commands.

Design and specifications

Franklin’s hull reflected late-war wooden frigate design, with a length-to-beam ratio consistent with contemporaries such as Wabash and Colorado. Her displacement of approximately 3,450 tons and a length of about 300 feet placed her between older sailing frigates and newer steam frigates like Sacramento. Propulsion combined a single-expansion steam engine driving a screw propeller with a full ship rig to extend cruising range as seen in ships built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard. Hull framing used live oak and white oak timbers sourced via contracts with suppliers in Maine, Georgia, and Virginia. Her architecture incorporated reinforced gun decks influenced by lessons from the Battle of Mobile Bay and the engagement at Fort Fisher, while onboard accommodations followed standards promulgated in manuals circulated by the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Bureau of Ordnance.

Service history

Commissioned into the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and assigned initially to patrol and convoy escort duties, Franklin’s active wartime service was limited by the rapid conclusion of major operations after the fall of Richmond, Virginia and General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House. She conducted sea trials and training cruises that involved midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy and officers reassigned from veteran vessels like Kearsarge and Monitor-class units. Postwar, Franklin took part in naval demonstrations and diplomatic presence missions to ports frequented by squadrons under Admirals who had served with Farragut and Charles H. Davis. Her logbooks recorded visits to New York City, Norfolk Navy Yard, and reported interactions with foreign squadrons including vessels from the Royal Navy, the Imperial Russian Navy, and the French Navy during peacetime port calls.

Armament and modifications

Originally armed to engage blockade runners and shore batteries, Franklin carried a mixture of Dahlgren smoothbores and rifled ordnance similar to complements on Ticonderoga and Shenandoah. Her battery incorporated 8-inch and 11-inch Dahlgren guns provided through William C. Endicott-era procurement channels and rifled Parrott guns obtained from ordnance depots in Washington, D.C. and Springfield Armory contractors. During fitting out, modifications included additional reinforcing of gun port shutters after observations made at the Siege of Charleston and the Fort Sumter campaigns. Postwar refits saw alterations to boilers and rigging influenced by technological updates promoted by engineers associated with the Navy Department and the U.S. Naval Institute’s early technical discussions.

Civilian use and fate

With peacetime reductions and the Navy’s pivot toward iron and steel hulls typified by later vessels built to specifications by John Ericsson and the Naval Act, Franklin was decommissioned and laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard before being sold into civilian hands. As with other surplus naval vessels after the Civil War Reconstruction, she found commercial employment in merchant service along the Atlantic trade routes connecting Boston, Charleston, Savannah, and ports in New Orleans. Eventually aging timber hulls like Franklin’s suffered from rot and obsolescence; she was broken up in the late 1870s after years under private ownership and registry records trace final disposition to breakers at a yard near Baltimore.

Category:Ships of the United States Navy