USS Brandywine

The Brandywine was a United States Navy 44-gun frigate launched in 1825. The name comes from Brandywine Creek[?] in Pennsylvania, where the Battle of Brandywine was fought in the American Revolution. (The practice of the time was to name frigates after rivers, but perhaps the historical connection motivated the choice of what is really a very small stream.)

Laid down in 1821, the frigate Susquehanna was renamed Brandywine prior to her launching by Washington Navy Yard[?], with President John Quincy Adams on board, 16 June 1825. She was christened by Sailing Master Marmaduke Dove[?].

Lieutenant F. H. Gregory[?] commanded Brandywine from 1 July to 1 September while she was being prepared for sea, after which Commodore Charles Morris[?], at that time one of the Navy Commissioners[?], took command. On 8 September 1825 she sailed from Washington Navy Yard with the Marquis de Lafayette on board, returning to France after a visit to the United States. She joined the Mediterranean Squadron[?] in November. From 1826 to 1851 the vessel made three cruises in the Mediterranean, and two in the Pacific as flagship; one to the Gulf of Mexico, East Indies, and Brazil. She was then in ordinary at New York Navy Yard until 1860.

In 1861 Brandywine was returned to service and converted to a storeship[?], taking station in Hampton Roads. She was recommissioned 27 October 1861. On 9 March 1862 she was towed up the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore by Mount Vernon. She was towed back to Hampton Roads in June 1862 for service as a store and receiving ship for the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron[?]. She then moved to Norfolk, Virginia where she was destroyed by fire 3 September 1864. Her wreck was raised and sold 26 March 1867.

Brandywine is notable as the final evolution of the 44-gun frigate design that began by the Constitution and her sisters a quarter-century earlier; while ships such as the Raritan were launched in the 1840s and differed in details, their basic design was identical to Brandywine.

General Characteristics

• Displacement: 1,708 tons
• Length: 175 ft (53.4 m)
• Beam: 45 ft (13.7 m)
• Draft: 22 ft (6.7 m)
• Speed: 13 knots
• Complement: 467 officers and men
• Armament: 44 32-pounder guns

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.