10/23/2026
On October 23, 1843, the USS Portsmouth, a sloop of war, was launched. Designed by Josiah Barker as an improvement over the earlier built USS Saratoga, also built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the Portsmouth was ready to play an important role in history.
With a crew of 200 officers and enlisted personnel, as well as 27 Marines, Portsmouth set sail from Norfolk, Virginia, in January of 1845 to join the Pacific Squadron. Her Marines played a key role in seizing the port of Yerba Beuna, known today as San Francisco, after they raised an American flag in the main plaza, later renamed Portsmouth Square.
After completing her duties in the Pacific, she departed from Boston in 1848 to patrol and suppress slave trade on the African coast. After this patrol, she departed for China to protect America during the Second O***m War in 1856. She returned to the coast of Africa for a three-year patrol to again suppress the illegal slave trade until 1861. Following the onset of the Civil War, she returned to home port to join the Gulf Blockading Squadron and later captured two blockade runners off Texas. Her final roles were as a training and quarantine ship.
After a long and widespread career, Portsmouth was struck from the Navy List in 1915 and eventually was burned on Governors Island in the Boston Harbor during a South Boston carnival. A large crowd, including local politicians, watched flames shoot out of her empty gun ports.
