USS Santee - A Frigate of the United States Navy
USS Santee pictured while a training frigate of the US Naval Academy at Newport during the Civil War. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-108000/NH-108640.html
USS Santee was a sailing frigate of the United States Navy built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. As originally ordered and designed, she was part of the class of 44-gun heavy frigates built in the years following the War of 1812 as follow-on designs to the successful Constitution class ships. However, many of the US Navy ships under construction during this time were built quite slowly. A nearly complete but not yet launched ship was seen as a mobilization asset that could be brought into service relatively quickly in time of war.
By the 1850s, Santee and Sabine were obsolescent sailing ships in a world of steam frigates. In an attempt to make them a bit more capable, they were lengthened by 15 feet prior to launch in 1855. Even then, USS Santee was not commissioned until June of 1861. She served for over a year in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the US Navy’s blockade, capturing three prizes. After returning to New England for a refit, Santee was sent to the US Naval Academy, then at Newport Rhode Island, to serve as a school ship alongside USS Constitution.
“School Ships” showing USS Santee (left), USS Constitution (center), and USS Macedonian (right) with the Naval Academy at Newport, Rhode Island during the Civil War. USS Constitution Museum Photograph. Used here in accordance with the Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Santee would continue to serve at the Naval Academy through 1912 when the old frigate finally sank at her moorings. A Proceedings article from 1913 gives an appreciative history of the ship: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1913/june/santee-appreciation
For many of her years with the Naval Academy she was used as a gunnery training ship. The last armament that Silverstone records in his books are that which she carried in 1862 - One 11-inch Dahlgren, one 100-pounder rifle, and 10 light 32-pounder, 33cwt guns. However, the photos below show the gun decks fully armed with late war US Navy guns either of the Bureau of Ordinance VIII-inch or 32-pounder guns of 4,500lbs type, and a large Dahlgren on a pivot mount is visible on the spar deck.
Gun deck of USS Santee in 1880. The guns are on Marsilly carriages and are late war Bureau of Ordinance guns of 32-pounders or VIII-inches. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photos: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-108000/NH-108639.html
Spar deck of USS Santee in 1882 at the US Naval Academy. Note a large Dahlgren gun (11-inch?) on a pivot mounting just aft of the mizzen mast and ship’s wheel. My guess is that the guns at broadside are Bureau of Ordinance 32-Pounders of 4,500lbs. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-108000/NH-108633.html
I have named the website after USS Santee for a few reasons:
The Santee River, though entirely in South Carolina, is fed by tributaries which flow from North Carolina. I’ve lived almost all my life in the Carolinas. I admire their beauty, their history, and their people. Additionally, the river takes its name from the Santee people, indigenous to South Carolina.
USS Santee, though named for a part of South Carolina, stayed true to the Union.
USS Santee as designed was to carry an armament little different from that carried by Constitution, President, and United States into battle during the War of 1812. As commissioned, she carried an armament of the late 1850s. In her long years of service as a gunnery training ship, she carried the guns of a late-war or post-war United States ship. She saw the evolution that I hope to illustrate on these pages.
She served for decades as a school ship. She helped to educate midshipmen during the war. She trained generations of midshipmen in gunnery after the war. Though it seems like she ceased being an active gunnery ship in the 1880s, it’s likely that officers such as Admiral William Sims learned first principles of gunnery at her Dahlgren guns.
Finally, as a lengthened and updated version of the American heavy frigate, I’ve always thought that she was a beautiful ship.
Huzzah to Old Santee.
A view of the South Santee River at sunset from the US-17 Bridge - photo by the author’s daughter
