USS Dale

Yesterday, I wrote about Rear Admiral Thomas O. Selfridge, Sr, being in command of the USS Dale during the Mexican War and of his being wounded badly at Guaymas, Mexico.

I also found out that the vessel served during the Civil War, so looked it up in good old Wikipedia.

It was a 117-foot long sailing sloop with a 32-foor beam. It carried a complement of 150 officers and men and mounted 14 X 32-pounders and 2 X 12-pounders.

It was built and launched at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and originally commissioned in 1839, decommissioned in 1859, recommissioned 1861, decommissioned 1865, recommissioned 1867, renamed Oriole in 1904, transferred to the Coast Guard in 1906, returned to the Navy in 1921 and then sold as a hulk.

Quite a long career for a ship I'd never heard of before.

During the Mexican War, the Dale captured several Mexican privateers and merchantmen. Landing parties from the Dales captured and raised the US flag over the Mexican towns of Guaymas and Mullego.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, the Dale captured two schooners on its way to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Port Royal, South Carolina where it served as a store and guard ship.

It was transferred to Key West and arrived December 10, 1862, and served as an ordnance store ship until the end of the war.

It then was a training ship at the US Naval Academy until 1884 then as a receiving ship at Washington Navy Yard to 1894. While at Norfolk 22 January 1886, landsmen Joseph H. Davis rescued a fellow seaman from drowning and received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The Dale was transferred to the Maryland Navy Militia in 1895 and later renamed the Oriole in 1904. In 1906, it was transferred to the Coast Guard where it served as a dormitory barracks ship. In 1921, it was returned to the Navy and sold as a hulk the same year.

Quite a Varied Career. --Old B-Runner