USS Independence (1814)
1814 three-masted ship of the United States Navy
USS Independence was a wooden-hulled, three-masted ship, originally a ship of the line and the first to be commissioned by the United States Navy. Originally a 90-gun ship, in 1836 she was cut down by one deck and re-rated as a 54-gun frigate.
Service history
Mediterranean Fleet, 1814–1822
Launched on 22 June 1814 in the Boston Navy Yard, she immediately took on guns and was stationed with frigate USS Constitution in Boston. She could not cruise until the end of the War of 1812 as she was blockaded in port by a British squadron consisting of a number of 74-gun ships and the 98-gun HMS Boyne. Flying the broad pennant of Commodore William Bainbridge, and under command of Captain William M. Crane, she led her squadron from Boston on 3 July 1815 to deal with piratical acts of the Barbary States against American merchant commerce.
Peace had been enforced by a squadron under Stephen Decatur by the time Independence arrived in the Mediterranean. But she led an impressive show of American naval might before Barbary ports that encouraged them to keep the peace treaties concluded. Having served adequate notice of rising U.S. seapower and added to the prestige of the Navy and the Nation, Independence returned to Newport, Rhode Island on 15 November 1815. She continued to wear the pennant of Commodore Bainbridge at Boston until 29 November 1819, then was flagship of Commodore John Shaw until placed in ordinary in 1822.
Refit 1836
Independence remained in ordinary at Boston until 1836 when she was razeed (cut down to one covered fighting deck with poop and forecastle).
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