|
HISTORY
USS Michigan was the
United States Navy's first iron-hulled warship and served during
the American Civil War. She was renamed USS Wolverine in 1905.
Construction and design
The side wheel steamer Michigan was built in response to the
British Government arming two steamers in response to the
Canadian rebellions in the late 1830s with Secretary of the Navy
Abel P. Upshur selecting an iron hull partly as a test of
practicability of using such a "cheap and indestructible a
material" for ships. The ship was designed by Samuel Hart, and
fabricated in parts at Pittsburgh in the last half of 1842,
transported overland and assembled at Erie. The launch on 5
December 1843 was unsuccessful with the ship sticking after
moving some 50 feet (15.2 m) down the ways and efforts to
complete the launch ended by nightfall. On returning in the
morning Hart found Michigan had launched "herself in the night"
and was floating offshore in Lake Erie.
By 1908 the ship was noted in the journal The American Marine
Engineer as being the oldest metal hulled vessel then existing
and of interest to engineers because of the ship's age. The two
engines were inclined simple steam engines of 36 inches (91.4
cm) with a 96 inches (243.8 cm) stroke that were original and
running well in 1908. The first of three sets of boilers were
return flue type that lasted fifty years before finally being
replaced by bricked in return tube types. The operating pressure
was low, 25 pounds (11.3 kg) sufficient to drive the engines at
20 rpm, with engine room piping of .125 inches (0.318 cm) thick
copper connecting with brass flange joints. When, about 1905,
the ship finally changed from kerosene lights to electric a
special engine for the dynamo had to be constructed to operate
on the low pressure steam. The steam was also used in a peculiar
system for repelling boarders with hot water direct from the
boiler. Coal consumption before the latest modifications was two
tons per hour and after the modifications was as low as one half
ton per hour. The ship carried two steam launches. The ship had
never made even ten knots until dispatched from the harbor at
Cleveland to Buffalo to prevent riots on the assassination of
President William McKinley 6 September 1901 and, with the
safeties weighted, she made almost fourteen knots at 30 rpm at
one point
Early career
Michigan commissioned 29 September 1844 under the command of
Commander William Inman and operated on the Great Lakes out of
Erie, Pennsylvania, throughout her career. In May 1851, she
assisted in the arrest of Mr. James Jesse Strang, known as "King
James I", who headed a dissident Mormon colony on Beaver Island
at the head of Lake Michigan, some 37 mi (60 km) from the
Straits of Mackinac. Strang was soon freed, but was assassinated
by two of his followers on 19 June 1856. The assassins fled to
Michigan for sanctuary and were taken to Mackinac and released.
In an encounter with Great Lakes "timber pirates" in the 1850s,
a steamer rammed Michigan. The pirate vessel was badly damaged
in the maneuver, and was captured.
USS Michigan was the first iron-hulled ship in the US Navy. When
she was rammed in the early hours of 6 May 1853, in southern
Lake Huron, by the wooden-hulled Buffalo, the Michigan was badly
damaged, but the Buffalo proceeded south towards the St. Clair
River and was not "captured." Despite this, the Michigan
assisted in arresting several of the timbermen who had been
stealing timber in Michigan. Additional information is available
in "The Development of Governmental Forest Control in the United
States," by Jenks Cameron, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1928; and in
"Guardian of the Great Lakes," by Bradley A. Rogers, The
University of Michigan Press, 1996.
American Civil War
During the American Civil War, Michigan was armed with a
30-pounder Parrott rifle, five 20-pounder Parrott rifles, six
24-pounder smoothbores, and two 12-pounder boat howitzers. The
Confederate States of America considered launching attacks
against the North from Canada. Early in 1863, Lieutenant William
Henry Murdaugh, CSN, planned to lead a group of Confederate
naval officers to Canada where they would purchase a small
steamer, man her with Canadians and steam to Erie to board
Michigan and use her against locks and shipping on the Great
Lakes. However, Confederate President Jefferson Davis didn't
approve the plan.
Michigan cruised on the Great Lakes during most of the war
providing an element of stability and security. On 28 July 1863,
a short time after New York City had been seriously shaken by
riots, Commander John C. Carter commanding Michigan reported
from Detroit, "I found the people suffering under serious
apprehensions of a riot....The presence of the ships perhaps did
something toward overawing the refractory, and certainly did
much to allay the apprehensions of the excited, doubting
people." During August 1863, Michigan was called on for similar
service in Buffalo, New York.
During 1864, rumors of Confederate conspiracies in Canada were
heard again. In March, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles
ordered Michigan to be "prepared for active service as soon as
the ice will permit." In the autumn, the Confederates finally
struck. Led by Acting Master John Yates Beall, 20 Confederates
embarked on the steamer Philo Parsons as passengers and soon
seized her. They next captured and burned the steamer Island
Queen. Meanwhile, Captain Charles H. Cole, CSA, a Confederate
agent in the Lake Erie region, was attempting to gain the trust
of Michigan's officers as the Michigan lay off Johnson's Island
helping to guard Confederate prisoners. However, Commander
Carter discovered Cole's duplicity and had him arrested before
Beall reached Johnson's Island on Philo Parsons. When the
prearranged signals from shore were not made, Beall reluctantly
abandoned his plan and retired to Sandwich (now Windsor,
Ontario) where he stripped and burned Philo Parsons
Later U.S. Navy service
After the Civil War, Michigan remained in U.S. Navy service, and
was the ship which intercepted and interned the army of the
Fenian Brotherhood as it returned from its invasion of Canada
near Buffalo in 1866. Michigan was renamed USS Wolverine on 17
June 1905 to free up the name Michigan for use by the new
battleship USS Michigan (BB-27).
Wolverine was decommissioned on 6 May 1912.
Pennsylvania Naval Militia service
Wolverine was turned over to the Pennsylvania Naval Militia,
which she served for 11 years, making training cruises in the
summer for the United States Naval Reserve. For the 1913
centennial of the War of 1812 Battle of Lake Erie, Wolverine
towed the brig USS Niagara from port to port as part of the
celebrations. In mid-1920, when the U.S. Navy adopted its modern
alphanumeric hull number system, she was classified as a
"miscellaneous auxiliary" and designated IX-31. On 12 August
1923, a connecting rod of Wolverine's port cylinder broke,
ending her active career.
Relic
In 1927, Wolverine's hulk was pushed up onto a sandbank in
Misery Bay on the Presque Isle State Park Peninsula and loaned
to the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, as a relic. She was sold to
the Foundation for the Preservation of the Original USS
Michigan, Inc., on 19 July 1948. But when fund-raising efforts
failed to acquire sufficient money for her restoration and
preservation, she was cut up and sold for scrap in 1949 to the
Ace Junk & Salvage Company. Sam Tanenbaum, proprietor, donated
the prow back to the city of Erie.
In 1950, Wolverine's prow was erected as a monument in Wolverine
Park in Erie, near the shipyard where she had been built. On 22
February 1998, the prow was moved to the Erie Maritime Museum
for restoration. Today it can be viewed inside the museum.
|
