USS Morris (TB-14)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Morris.

USS Morris (TB-14)

USS Morris (TB-14), circa 1898, location unknown
History
United States
Namesake	Commodore Robert Morris
Ordered	6 June 1896 (authorised)
Builder	Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, RI
Laid down	19 November 1897
Launched	13 April 1898
Commissioned	11 May 1898
Renamed	Coast Torpedo Boat No. 6 1 August 1918
Stricken	24 January 1924
Identification	TB-14
Fate	Sold at public auction, 10 October 1924
General characteristics
Class and type	Morris-class torpedo boat
Displacement	105 long tons (107 t)
Length	139 ft 6 in (42.52 m)
Beam	15 ft 4 in (4.67 m)
Draft	4 ft 1 in (1.24 m) (mean)
Installed power	2 × Normand boiler boilers 1,750 ihp (1,300 kW)
Propulsion	vertical triple expansion engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	23 kn (26 mph; 43 km/h) 24 kn (28 mph; 44 km/h) (Speed on Trial)
Complement	26 officers and enlisted
Armament	3 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.46 in)) guns 3 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (3x1)

The fifth USS Morris (Torpedo Boat No. 14/TB-14/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 6) was laid down by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, RI, 19 November 1897; launched 13 April 1898; and commissioned 11 May 1898.

After east coast shakedown, Morris arrived Newport Rhode Island, for range tender and training services until World War I, when patrol duties were assigned. From 19 April 1918 through early March 1919 she patrolled the West Indies, until the Armistice investigating suspected enemy sabotage. Now known as Coast Torpedo Boat No. 6, she returned to Newport and decommissioned 24 March 1919, but served as torpedo range tender there for 5 years. Last of the old torpedo boats, she was struck from the Naval Register 24 January 1924, and sold at public auction 10 October 1924 to Frank B. Jones of Wilmington, Delaware.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Photo gallery of Morris at NavSource Naval History
• Technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.