USS Deane (1778)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Deane.
Career (United States)
Name: USS Deane
Namesake: Silas Deane
Commissioned: 1778
Decommissioned: 1783
Renamed: USS Hague, September 1782
General characteristics
Type:Frigate
Tonnage:550
Length:96 ft (29 m)
Beam:32 ft (9.8 m)
Armament:• 24 × 12-pounder (5 kg) guns
• 8 × 4-pounder (1.8 kg) guns
• 2 × 6-pounder (2.7 kg) guns
Service record
Commanders: Capt. Samuel Nicholson
Capt. John Manley

The Continental Navy frigate USS Deane, named after American commissioner to France Silas Deane, was built at Nantes, France, and brought to the United States in May 1778 to be prepared for sea. She was named Hague in 1782, and was taken out of commission in 1783.

Career

Under the command of Captain Samuel Nicholson of the Continental Navy, Deane sailed from Boston 14 January 1779 with Alliance for a cruise in the West Indies. She returned to Philadelphia 17 April with one prize, the armed ship Viper. On 29 July she joined with USS Boston and two ships of the Virginia Navy guarding a convoy of merchantmen out to sea and continuing on for a five-week cruise which netted eight prizes, including four privateers, the packet Sandwich, and the sloop-of-war HMS Thorn. The frigates arrived at Boston 6 September with 250 prisoners after one of the most notable cruises of the Continental Navy.

During the winter and early spring of 1781 and again in 1782 Deane cruised with Confederacy and Saratoga in the West Indies, capturing four prizes on the second of these cruises. In April 1782 she captured the cutter HMS Jackal.[1] After two more cruises in the Caribbean, one in September 1782 and the other in 1783. She was renamed Hague in September 1782 (perhaps because of false accusation against Deane that was current at the time).

Fate

Deane was taken out of commission in 1783 at Boston.

Citations

  1. ↑ Demerliac (1996), p.89, #590.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.