USS General Greene (1799)

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USS General Greene p1
Ship data
flag United StatesUnited States (national flag) United States
Ship type frigate
Shipyard Warren
Launch January 21, 1799
Whereabouts Burned on August 24, 1814
Ship dimensions and crew
length
38 m ( Lüa )
width 10.5 m
Draft Max. 5 m
displacement 654 tn.l.
 
crew 250 men
Armament
  • 24 × 12 pounder gun
  • 6 × 6 pounder gun

The USS General Greene , the second American warship that name was a frigate of the US Navy with 30 guns that the American-French quasi-war was used.

History of the ship

The General Greene was built at the Benjamin Talman and James de Wolff shipyard in Warren , where the ship was launched on January 21, 1799. Its first in command was Captain Christopher Raymond Perry. As a midshipman , his son Oliver Hazard Perry was also a member of General Greene's crew .

The frigate first sailed on June 2, 1799 to escort a convoy of five merchant ships to Havana together with the USS Governor Jay . Due to the damage caused by a gust of wind, the ship had to call for repairs in Havana, where a number of crew members contracted yellow fever . About 60 men fell ill and over 20 died. At the end of July, the ship returned to Newport with numerous sick on board , where it was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with the means available at the time.

From September 1799 the crossed General Greene ago Santo Domingo to French privateers intercept. Together with the USS Boston , she took a French privateer on December 1, 1799 and took back an American schooner captured by the French . During a rebellion in Haiti against the freedom fighter General Toussaint L'Ouverture , the American warship blocked the port of Jacmel to cut supplies from the insurgents and gave Toussaint artillery support. After the conquest of the site on February 27, 1800, the ship stayed in Haiti to evacuate American citizens and in April brought two Toussaints envoys to US President John Adams in the United States. In New Orleans , the frigate took General James Wilkinson , the first governor of Louisiana , on board, escorted some merchant ships to Havana, and entered Newport on July 21, 1800.

The General Greene was then assigned to the reserve and remained in Newport until Captain Perry was demobilized. She then came to the Washington Navy Yard . In 1803 it served as a hospital for the frigate USS Constellation and in 1805 it became a Hulk by removing the masts .

The hull went up in flames on August 24, 1814 when British troops occupied Washington in the War of 1812 following their victory in the Battle of Bladensburg .