List of sailing frigates of the United States Navy

Ships of the United States Navy
Ships in current service
Current ships
Ships grouped alphabetically
A–B C D–F G–H I–K L M N–O P Q–R S T–V W–Z
Ships grouped by type
Aircraft carriers Airships Amphibious warfare ships Auxiliaries Battlecruisers Battleships Cruisers Destroyers Destroyer escorts Destroyer leaders Escort carriers Frigates Hospital ships Littoral combat ships Mine warfare vessels Monitors Oilers Patrol vessels Registered civilian vessels Sailing frigates Steam frigates Steam gunboats Ships of the line Sloops of war Submarines Torpedo boats Torpedo retrievers Unclassified miscellaneous Yard and district craft

USS Constitution in 1997

This is a list of sailing frigates of the United States Navy. Frigates were the backbone of the early Navy, although the list shows that many suffered unfortunate fates.

The sailing frigates of the United States built from 1797 on were unique in that their hulls were made of American live oak, a particularly hardy genus that made very resilient hulls; as a result of this, the ships were known to withstand damage that would have scuppered frigates of other nations. American frigates were also very heavily armed; the USN's 44s were actually armed with approximately 54 to 60 guns.

Continental Navy

Name	Class	Dates of Service	Fate
Alliance		1778– 1785	abandoned near Philadelphia
Bonhomme Richard		1779	sank after taking Serapis
Boston<ref Name="ROSOTUSN">Bauer, Karl Jack (1991). Register of ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0313262029.	Boston-class	1777Boston-class frigate– 1780Boston-class frigate	captured by the BritishBoston-class frigate
Bourbon		1783	never completed
Confederacy		1778–1781	captured by the British
Congress (II)		1776–1777	never completed
Deane		1778–1783
Delaware		1776–1777	captured by the British
Effingham		1777	never completed
Hancock	Hancock-class	1776– 1777	captured by the British
Montgomery		1776–1777	destroyed to prevent capture, Hudson River
Providence		1776–1780	captured by the British, Charleston, South Carolina
Raleigh		1776–1778	captured by the British
Randolph		1776–1778	exploded in battle
Virginia		1776–1778	captured by the British
Warren		1776–1779	destroyed to prevent capture, Penobscot Expedition
Washington		1776–1777	destroyed to prevent capture, Philadelphia

United States Navy

Name	Class	Dates of Service	Fate
Adams	Adams-class	1799–1814	scuttled and burned to prevent capture
Boston (III)		1799–1814	burned to prevent capture
Brandywine		1825–1864	destroyed by fire
USS Chesapeake	Chesapeake-class frigate	1800– 1813	captured by the British
Columbia		1836–1861	scuttled and burned to prevent capture
Congress	Constellation-class	1799– 1834	broken up
Congress (IV)		1841–1862	burned and sank after action with CSS Virginia
Constellation	Constellation-class	1797– 1853	remodeled into sloop-of-war
Constitution	United States-class	1797 to date	remains in commission
Cumberland		1842–1862	sunk by CSS Virginia
Cyane		1815–1835	broken up
Essex		1799–1814	captured by the British
General Greene		1799–1814	destroyed by fire
Guerriere		1814–1841	broken up
Hudson		1826–1844	broken up
Insurgent		1799–1800	lost at sea
Java		1814–1842	broken up, Norfolk, Virginia
John Adams		1799–1867	sold
Macedonian (I)		1812–1828	broken up, Norfolk, Virginia
Macedonian (II)		1836–1871	sold
New York		1800–1814	burned by the British
Philadelphia		1799–1804	captured by Tripoli boarded and burned by Stephen Decatur
Potomac		1822–1877	sold
President	United States-class	1800– 1815	captured by the British
Raritan		1843–1861	destroyed to prevent capture
Sabine		1855–1883	sold
St. Lawrence		1848–1875	sold
United States	United States-class	1797– 1861 1862- 1866	broken up for scrap

References

Chapelle, Howard Irving. The History of the American Sailing Navy; The Ships and Their Development. New York: Norton, 1949.

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