USS Growler (1812 sloop)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Growler.
Career
Name: USS Growler
Acquired: Purchased, 1812
Fate: Captured by the British, 3 June 1813
Career
Name: HMS Shannon
HMS Chub
Acquired: 3 June 1813
Fate: Re-captured by the Americans, 11 September 1814
Career
Name: USS Growler
Acquired: 11 September 1814
Fate: Sold, July 1815
General characteristics
Type: Sloop
Displacement: 112 long tons (114 t)
Length: 64 ft (20 m)
Beam: 20 ft 4 in (6.20 m)
Draft: 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Propulsion: Sail
Armament: • 10 × 18-pounder carronades
• 1 × 6-pounder gun

The second USS Growler (1812-2), was a 112-ton sloop, armed with ten 18-pounders and one six-pounder, during the War of 1812. Growler was purchased on Lake Champlain in 1812. The British captured her in 1813 and renamed her HMS Chub or Chubb.[Note 1] The Americans recaptured her at the Battle of Lake Champlain. She was sold in 1815.

Contents

American service and capture

Growler cruised under the command of Lieutenant Sidney Smith as part of Commodore Thomas Macdonough's squadron. The British captured Growler on 3 June 1813 on the Sorrell River near Ile aux Noix on the Canadian side of the lake and took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Shannon. They later renamed her HMS Chubb or Chub.[3]

British service and recapture

Chub was under the command of Lieutenant James McGhie on 11 September 1814 at the Battle of Lake Champlain. McGhie was ordered to support Linnet in her attack on the USS Eagle. Chub reached her station relatively unscathed and anchored. In the engagement Chub lost her main boom and bowsprit, and had her anchor cable severed. She drifted into the American line where she struck her colors to the USS Saratoga. She had lost six men killed and 16 wounded.[4] At McGhie's court martial for the loss of his ship, the board severely reprimanded him for not coming into action properly and for failing to anchor properly.[1]

Fate

After the Americans recaptured Chub/Growler she saw no further service. The Americans sold her at Whitehall, New York, in July 1815.

Notes

  1. ^ This is the history per DANFS and the NMM. Hepper has Growler becoming Finch, and USS Eagle becoming Chub.[1] Winfield has no mention of Finch, and agrees with Hepper re Eagle/Chubb.[2]

References

Citations
  1. ^ a b Hepper (1994), p.151.
  2. ^ Winfield (2008), p.371.
  3. ^ "NMM, vessel ID 382365". Warship Histories, vol. v. National Maritime Museum. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/upload/pdf/Warship_Histories_Vessels_v.pdf. Retrieved 30 July 2011. 
  4. ^ London Gazette: no. 16960. pp. 2335–2337. 26 November 1814.
Bibliography

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales License, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project