'Lexington' American 26-Gun Corvet (With Plans)

[SteelSandwich]

Lexington,

 

 

 

 

Specifications:

Length between perpendiculars: 127’

Beam (molded): 33’6”

Depth in hold: 15’3”

Tonnage: 691 tons

Complement: 190

 

US-Corvet "Lexington", 26 guns 18-pdr.

 

 

A big thank you to Talos who recognized the ship in an instant and provided some very interesting information. For a more elaborate history, scroll down a few comments!

The more detailed plans, courtesy of Talos, are found is his comment as well.

[Hethwill]

She's almost a flush deck oversized brig. Want.

[Talos]

I recognize that one. She is one of the Boston-class sloops the US Navy commissioned in the 1820s. They were the backbone of the medium segment of the navy until the large sloops were commissioned in the 1840s starting with Saratoga. The famous Vincennes from the US Exploring Expedition was one of these ships.

 

They were made to three designs, one by Samuel Humphreys, one by William Doughty, and one by Josiah Barker. Of those, Lexington (along with her sisters Warren and Natchez) were the Doughty design. Doughty and Barker’s both had round sterns while Humphreys’ had a conventional one. All three designs were too slow and not spectacular sailors. The three Doughty ships look like they weren’t constructed the best either and were the first to go, with the last one (Warren) sold in Panama in 1863. Lexington was decommissioned in 1860. She had seen combat in the Mexican-American War after being reduced to a storeship in 1840.

 

The class was rated as 18-gun second class sloops, armed with 24 x light 24-pounder guns. These were a unique pattern in the Navy and not repeated. Like the light guns of the time in the Royal Navy, they were weaker and unable to take as high a powder charge as the full-size guns, lacked the range, and couldn’t be safely double-shotted. Thomas ap Catesby Jones, uncle of future CSS Virginia commander Catesby ap Roger Jones, was USN ordnance inspector at the time and he tore into them in reports (you can find these in Google Books). Most of the ships later replaced the 24-pounders with regular 32-pounder carronades and chase guns, while some later were fitted with the new 32-pounder guns the US Navy switched to, with a series of six different size categories, plus 8” shell guns and later even light Parrott rifles during the Civil War.

 

Her specifications are

Length between perpendiculars: 127’

Beam (molded): 33’6”

Depth in hold: 15’3”

Tonnage: 691 tons

Complement: 190

 

I’m attaching the three designs, Humphreys, Doughty, and Barker. These ships really weren’t anything to write home about, but they do form the link between the successful War of 1812 ships like the first Peacock, the Cyane and Levant (and Peacock rebuild) of the 1830s, and then the successful, powerful 1840s sloops culminating in Constellation.

 

Link to Imgur gallery for fullsize images.

http://imgur.com/a/ICuyA

[SteelSandwich]

Marvelous!

 

A very interesting read and detailed as well. May i thank you for your contribution

I wish i could like your post twice..

[Talos]

Thanks, glad you liked it I was trying not to go overboard on detail. There's a lot more to these ships and I'm always fascinated by the post-war US Navy. Chapelle included three designs for sloops/corvettes that were never built as part of the design lineage for these ships, which were neat. Also the old 1790s subscription frigate USS John Adams, which was cut down to a sloop, rebuilt with a quarterdeck into a "jackass frigate", cut down into a sloop again, was later replaced by a Boston-class sloop of the same name.

 

I spend way too much time staring at USN plans of this era!

[SteelSandwich]

Thanks, glad you liked it I was trying not to go overboard on detail. There's a lot more to these ships and I'm always fascinated by the post-war US Navy. Chapelle included three designs for sloops/corvettes that were never built as part of the design lineage for these ships, which were neat. Also the old 1790s subscription frigate USS John Adams, which was cut down to a sloop, rebuilt with a quarterdeck into a "jackass frigate", cut down into a sloop again, was later replaced by a Boston-class sloop of the same name.

 

I spend way too much time staring at USN plans of this era!

I figure you will recognize these as well then.

 

Marked as 'De Spark´ (The Spark, translated)

I think this is the 1814 Spark

 

And then we have the Universe and Aurora, which seems to me more like 1840-1860's kind of ships?

 

 

I love going through dutch archives/databases and often you will come across foreign ships (which i know very little about but are always interesting to see).

[Talos]

Spark is a Navy ship as well and I have plans and information on her. The other two are civilian merchant ships from the mid-19th century like you said, a pair of clippers/clipper-packets. I'd have to look up more on them from my sources.

[Talos]

USS Spark was a Baltimore Clipper (or at least to a clipper design, she was built in Sag Harbor, New York) and purchased by the Navy. Lightly-built and rigged, she couldn't carry her initial rating of 14 guns and got reduced to 12 later. She was well-known for being one of the fastest and finest-sailing ships in the Navy, which is the reason all the copies of her plans were made. Purchased vessels usually weren't otherwise. The Navy-built vessels were quite a bit heavier, carried more stores, more boats, and more armament and this slowed them down. Spark lasted until 1826, when she was worn out and sold. She was one of the very few remaining small warships in the Navy. Their numbers were beefed up for anti-piracy operations by a new generation, the four-ship Alligator class schooners and the schooner USS Grampus, as well as the new brigs Boxer, Experiment, and Enterprise.

 

Her specifications were as follows:

Length between perpendiculars: 103'3"

Beam (molded): 25'4"

Depth in hold: 12'8"

Tonnage: 287 tons

Complement: 90

Battery: 10 x 18-pdr carronade, 2 x 18-pdr chase

 

http://i.imgur.com/HqtlZTC.jpg