USS Puritan (BM-1)

The second USS Puritan was a Puritan class monitor in the United States Navy, constructed in 1882. She was the only ship in her class.

Construction

On June 23, 1874 President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of the Navy George Robeson in response to the Virginius Incident ordered the USS Puritan of the American Civil War laid down (scrapped, redesigned, and rebuilt). Secretary Robeson revised design of the "repaired" Puritan called for two turrets, and with the ship's superstructure, tall stack, and military mast, having the characteristics which identified the monitors built between 1889 and 1903.

Because of the level of disrepair on the original Puritan, a new Puritan was built by John Roach & Sons of Chester, Pennsylvania contracted out by Secretary Robeson and completed by the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Officially the Navy records list this action as a repair and redesignation of the original Puritan, not the building of a new vessel even though very few building materials from the original were included in the construction of the second. The new Puritan was launched 6 December 1882 and commissioned on 10 December 1896, with Captain John R. Bartlett in command.

USS Puritan

USS Puritan may refer to:

Puritan (ACM-16)

Puritan (ACM-16/MMA-16) was built for the United States Army as U.S. Army Mine Planter (USAMP) Col. Alfred A. Maybach MP-13. The ship was transferred to the United States Navy and classified as an auxiliary minelayer. Puritan was never commissioned and thus never bore the "United States Ship" (USS) prefix showing status as a commissioned ship of the U.S. Navy.

Acquisition by the U.S. Navy

Puritan was originally the Army mine planter USAMP Col. Alfred A. Maybach MP-13. Her transfer to the U.S. Navy was approved on 7 March 1951.

Out of Commission Status

Upon transfer she was placed out of commission in reserve as the Auxiliary Mine LayerACM-16, assigned to the San Francisco Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. On 7 February 1955 she was reclassified as the Minelayer, AuxiliaryMMA-16. She was named Puritan effective 1 May 1955. She remained out of commission in reserve berthed at Mare Island.

Disposal

She was struck from the Navy List in 1959 and sold in 1961.

References

External links

USS Puritan (ID-2222)

The USS Puritan, a civilian transport built by Craig Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, Ohio, was launched in 1901, and lengthened by 26 ft (7.9 m) in 1908. The ship sailed on the Great Lakes in passenger service, was purchased by the U.S. Navy at the end of the war, and returned to passenger service after the war. The ship sank in 1933 near Isle Royale in Lake Superior, and its wreck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Civilian Service prior to World War I

She mainly operated on Lake Michigan in passenger service between Chicago, Holland, and Benton Harbor.

USS Puritan

The Puritan was purchased by the U.S. Navy in April 1918 and commissioned 20 November 1918. Although she was suitable for coastal transport in the English Channel, she may have never left the Great Lakes in naval service. The Puritan was decommissioned in 1919 and sold to a firm in Chicago.

Civilian Service after World War I

She went back into passenger service from Chicago to other ports on the Great Lakes from 1920 to 1929. At the start of the Great Depression, she was laid up.