Hampton Roads Naval Museum

10. US Gunboat 135

Norfolk, VA

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Gunboats were to be the mainstay of the U.S. Navy from 1803 to 1812. Rather than spend money on frigates and sloops, President Thomas Jefferson believed that gunboats were more economical to build and maintain. He also believed that it fit his agrarian outlook of the United States. This outlook was decidedly against a large, permanent fleet. Congress authorized the construction of over 180 gunboats beginning in February 1803. They were built at various points along the Atlantic Coast and Lakes Ontario and Champlain. Naval officers oversaw construction of the gunboats, and Naval agents dispersed funds and supplies. Most gunboats were from 45' to 70' in length, 16' to 18' in beam, and sloop- or schooner-rigged, and were designed more for fighting than for sailing. They relied on sails or oars for propulsion in the water. Master ship designer Josiah Fox designed US Gunboat 135 and workers in Philadelphia constructed her. She was a small galley fitted with a sloop rig and two guns. The type of guns varied, between two 24-pounders and/or 32-pounder smooth bore cannon. The gunboat's hull dimensions were sixty feet on deck, sixteen feet, six inches at the beam, and six feet, six inches in depth. Once finished, the Navy stored Gunboat 135 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, since gunboats deteriorated quickly once put into service. In 1809, Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton reported to Congress, saying, "The sails, and standing and running rigging, at present belonging to those laid up will, probably, at the end of one year, be so much injured as to be unfit for use." Naval officers and men aboard them disliked gunboats. They were sluggish in their movements and utterly useless except in perfectly calm waters. The Navy commissioned the vessel for the upcoming war with Britain and assigned her to join the gunboat flotilla already present in Hampton Roads. During the War of 1812's Battle of Craney Island, the Navy's sixteen gunboats placed themselves across the Elizabeth River, with Gunboat 135 anchoring the line on the far right side.