Replica of USS Philadelphia
In preparation for the opening of the new Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92 on Veterans Day, we will be posting on the blog, Facebook, and Twitter all about the rich maritime history of the borough, city, and state, so stay tuned and come visit the Brooklyn Navy Yard!
As part of the ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the USS New York sailed into New York Harbor as a floating memorial to the victims. Commissioned in 2009 and built using steel recovered from the World Trade Center site, the ship was carrying several family members of fallen first responders when it arrived for the commemoration ceremonies at Ground Zero. When the ship first visited New York City two years ago, it was opened to the public, and we got the chance to go aboard and explore the massive amphibious transport. The USS New York is an impressive tribute, but it is just one in a long line of fighting ships to bear the name. Earlier this summer, we learned about the first American vessel so named, at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vermont. In an earlier post, we discussed the lineage of the moniker, which includes a battleship constructed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but the name actually dates all the way back to America’s first fleet, built during the Revolutionary War. Our visit to the museum gave us a more complete history of the vessel, as we saw surviving portions of the ship and experienced what it may have been like to serve aboard the first USS New York.
As part of the ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the USS New York sailed into New York Harbor as a floating memorial to the victims. Commissioned in 2009 and built using steel recovered from the World Trade Center site, the ship was carrying several family members of fallen first responders when it arrived for the commemoration ceremonies at Ground Zero. When the ship first visited New York City two years ago, it was opened to the public, and we got the chance to go aboard and explore the massive amphibious transport. The USS New York is an impressive tribute, but it is just one in a long line of fighting ships to bear the name. Earlier this summer, we learned about the first American vessel so named, at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vermont. In an earlier post, we discussed the lineage of the moniker, which includes a battleship constructed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but the name actually dates all the way back to America’s first fleet, built during the Revolutionary War. Our visit to the museum gave us a more complete history of the vessel, as we saw surviving portions of the ship and experienced what it may have been like to serve aboard the first USS New York.
On the flight deck of the USS New York in November 2009
I had earlier described the ship as “little more than a large canoe.” The ship would be dwarfed by its modern incarnation (seen above), but a large canoe it is not – perhaps a very, very large rowboat would be a better description. The exact dimensions of the vessel are unknown, but we do know those of one of its sister ships, the USS Philadelphia – at 53 feet long, 15 feet wide, and with a compliment of 45 men and three guns, these ships were impressive sights in the relatively narrow confines of Lake Champlain, and their flat bottoms made them ideal for negotiating the shallows of inland waters.
Lake Champlain was a critical artery during the American Revolution. It was part of a corridor connecting British forces in Quebec with the Hudson Valley and New York City, and if the British gained command of it, they could cut off New England and divide the restive colonies in two. In the summer of 1776, the Americans were forced to abandon their invasion of Canada, a campaign that had begun the previous fall. Inadequate supplies, disease, low morale, and a massive British force poised to strike from Quebec City convinced the American commanders it was better to quit their positions at Montreal and Sorel and retreat to the relative safety of the forts on Champlain.
Lake Champlain was a critical artery during the American Revolution. It was part of a corridor connecting British forces in Quebec with the Hudson Valley and New York City, and if the British gained command of it, they could cut off New England and divide the restive colonies in two. In the summer of 1776, the Americans were forced to abandon their invasion of Canada, a campaign that had begun the previous fall. Inadequate supplies, disease, low morale, and a massive British force poised to strike from Quebec City convinced the American commanders it was better to quit their positions at Montreal and Sorel and retreat to the relative safety of the forts on Champlain.
Stem of the USS New York
During the course of their retreat from Canada, the Americans destroyed or captured any vessel the British could use to pursue them, and anything they would need to rebuild their fleet, including shipyards and sawmills. This severely stalled the British advance, giving the Americans time to build a fleet capable of facing their enemy. Benedict Arnold, who had commanded American forces in Montreal, was tasked with building the fleet at Skenesborough (now Whitehall), New York, on the lake’s southern tip.
By September, 16 ships were patrolling the lake, awaiting the British advance. During this time, most of the ships were constantly “at sea,” not moored at the forts. This was in part because the British invasion could come at any time, but also because the ships were manned by inexperienced crews, mostly militiamen with little training. Arnold feared that they would desert once they realized how grueling it was to row these vessels – that was their primary locomotion, not sails – so he kept the men aboard for weeks at a time, resupplying them by canoes, constantly drilling and preparing them for battle.
A cannon aboard the USS New York explodes during the Battle of Valcour Island
It was not until October 11, 1776 that the fleets finally engaged, and the Americans were immediately overmatched. The largest British vessels proved ungainly on the lake, but the British firepower was still too much, and several American vessels were quickly lost. During the course of the battle, one of the New York’s three cannons exploded, killing Lieutenant Thomas Rogers and, and according to Arnold’s account, causing her to lose “all her officers except her Captain.” By nightfall, the American fleet was hemmed into a narrow channel between the New York shore and Valcour Island (see map below) on the northern half of the lake. But rather than close the noose, the British left an opening in their line along the New York shore, allowing the Americans to escape at daybreak. The British pursued southward, and Arnold was forced to scuttle several more ships and escape overland to the forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga (we recently paid a visit to another historic fort nearby, Fort William Henry on Lake George).
Click to enlarge. Courtesy of Wikipedia
Despite the defeat, the battle convinced the British that a campaign in the Champlain Valley so late in the season was ill-advised. And despite the explosion, the New York was the only American gunboat to survive the battle. But the following year, British forces commanded by Gen. John Burgoyne would quickly sweep through the valley, capturing the American forts along the way – the New York was stationed at Ticonderoga when it fell in July of 1777, at which point it disappears from the historical record. (This Champlain campaign would also end unsuccessfully for the British, when Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga, a major turning point in the war.) In 1910, the ship’s stem (pictured above) was unearthed while digging a canal in Whitehall, though how it got there is still a mystery. The cannon that exploded was recovered only recently thanks to the Valcour Bay Research Project, which has been conducting archaeological and archival research to reconstruct the battle. Both the stem and the cannon fragments are on display at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.
Though she did not survive the battle, the Philadelphia has had a longer life than any other vessel in that ill-fated fleet. She remained well preserved on the lake bottom, and in 1935 she was raised and reconstructed. The ship is currently on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. But if you want a more up-close look at what it may have been like the live, work, and fight aboard the ship, you can get that chance on the Philadelphia II, a replica of the gunboat that still prowls the lake from its dock at the Maritime Museum.
This story may be far removed from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the waterways of New York City, but these events marked the birth of the American Navy. Today the latest incarnation of the New York may patrol the world’s oceans to protect America’s interests, but 235 years ago, America’s fate rested on a fleet of rowboats on a narrow lake in the wilderness.
To learn more about the new Brooklyn Navy Yard Center, click here. The center will open to the public on Friday, November 11, and admission is free. Urban Oyster will be offering free mini bus tours (30-45 minutes) of highlights within the Navy Yard throughout the day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We will also offer a 2.5-hour bus tour of the yard on Sunday that will focus on military history in honor of Veterans Day. Tickets and information for that tour are available here.
All photos by Andrew Gustafson unless noted.
All photos by Andrew Gustafson unless noted.