The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Friday, March 21, 2008

USS Michigan-- First US Ironclad Ship

From the Archives of Michigan. The Primary Re:source Reference Blog.

The USS Michigan was the first ironclad ship in the US Navy and operated on the Great Lakes for her entire career. Parts of the ship were built in Pittsburgh and sections transported to Lake Erie by ox teams and riverboat.

It got involved in the Strang affair when it carried Jesse Strang to Detroit for trial in 1851.

The ship also foiled a Confederate plot to liberate the prisoners at Johnson Island in Sanduskey Bay.

After the Civil War, it was used as a training ship and saw service in WWI. Her last cruise was in 1927 and even FDR wanted her saved, but the ship was scrapped in 1949.

The mainmast is in the Historical Society of Fairport, Ohio.

Really Too Bad That a Ship THAT Old Would be Summarily Scrapped. This would have made an excellent museum. --Old B-Runner

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