USS St. Lawrence

Wash of St. Lawrence from 1897
History
United States
NameUSS St. Lawrence
BuilderNorfolk Navy Yard
Laid down1826
Launched1848
Commissioned17 August 1848
Decommissioned15 November 1850
Recommissioned5 February 1851
Decommissioned18 August 1851
Recommissioned18 November 1851
Decommissioned21 May 1855
Recommissioned22 September 1856
Decommissioned25 May 1859
Recommissioned21 June 1861
Decommissioned30 May 1863
Recommissioned5 August 1863
Decommissioned12 December 1865
FateSold 31 December 1875
General characteristics
Class & typeBrandywine-class frigate
Tonnage1726
Length175 ft (53 m)
Beam45 ft (14 m)
Depth of hold14 ft 5 in (4.39 m)
PropulsionSail
Complement480 officers and enlisted
Armament
  • 8 × 8 in (200 mm) shell guns
  • 42 × 32-pounder guns

USS St. Lawrence was a Potomac-class frigate of the United States Navy. Laid down in 1826, she was completed for service in the Mexican-American war, and commissioned in 1848. Instead, she sailed to Europe to train Prussian sailors and made several other trans-Atlantic voyages. In 1851, she was reassigned to the Pacific to serve as the Pacific squadron's flagship before she was reassigned to sail to Brazil as part of the Paraguay expedition in 1856. During the American Civil War, she joined the Union Blockade and seized several blockade runners before running aground at the Battle of Hampton Roads. After the battle, she protected Washington D.C. and rejoined the blockade before she was decommissioned and reused as a storeship in 1863. She was then reused as a barracks ship before being sold of in 1875.