USS Saginaw (1859)
See USS Saginaw for other ships of this name.
The first USS Saginaw was a sidewheel sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
History
The first vessel built by the Mare Island Navy Yard, Saginaw was laid down on 16 September 1858; launched as Toucey on 3 March 1859; sponsored by Miss Cunningham, daughter of the commandant of the Navy Yard; renamed Saginaw; and commissioned on 5 January 1860, Commander James F. Schenck in command.
The new side-wheel ship sailed from San Francisco Bay on 8 March 1860, headed for the western Pacific, and reached Shanghai, China on 12 May. She then served in the East India Squadron, for the most part cruising along the Chinese coast to protect American citizens and to suppress pirates. She visited Japan in November but soon returned to Chinese waters. On 30 June 1861, she silenced a battery at the entrance to Qui Nhon Bay, Cochin China, which had fired upon her while she was searching for the missing boat and crew of American bark Myrtle.
USS Saginaw
USS Saginaw may refer to:
USS Saginaw (LST-1188)
USS Saginaw (LST-1188), a Newport-class tank landing ship of the United States Navy was the second ship of that name. Saginaw was named after the Saginaw River, a river in mid-Michigan. The ship was decommissioned in Little Creek, Virginia on 29 August 1994 and at the same ceremony transferred to the Royal Australian Navy.
History
Saginaw was laid down on 24 May 1969 by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, in San Diego. She was launched on 7 February 1970, sponsored by Mrs. James Harvey, wife of the Congressman from the Eighth District of Michigan (which included Saginaw), and commissioned at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 23 January 1971, with Commander G. P. Brown in command.
The new tank landing ship (LST) completed fitting out, took on ammunition at NWS Seal Beach, California, and got underway from San Diego on 4 March 1971, bound for the east coast. On her first day out, her lookouts sighted a mechanized landing craft, LCM(6)-805, adrift at sea. The LST took the drifting craft in tow, and later, turned her over to the Point Defiance (LSD-31). Then, Saginaw proceeded via Acapulco, Mexico, and the Panama Canal, to NAB Little Creek, Virginia, her home port, arriving on 26 March.
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