The USS INDEPENDENCE name was used five times in the US NAVY. The first was a 10-gun sloop bought in 1775 and wrecked in 1778. The second was a 12-gun brig purchased in 1777 and sold in 1779. The third is the subject of this article, the first ship of the line in the US NAVY, launched as a 74-gun ship. The fourth was the light aircraft carrier (CVL-22) that was active during WWII. The last was the aircraft carrier that was commissioned in 1959 and just retired in 1998 (CV-62).

The necessity of a large 74-gun ship became apparent by 1814 due to the current war with England. It was apparent that 44-gun frigates, no matter how well fought and sailed, were no match for a fleet of ships-of-the-line which the British were utilizing very effectively to blockade the coast of the United States.

Our USS INDEPENDENCE was launched on 22 June, 1814 and built by Edmund Hartt and J. Barker of Boston, Massachusetts in 1814. She had a length of 190.9 feet; breadth of 54.7 feet; depth of 21.3 feet with a displacement of 2.243 tons manned by 790 officers and men with an armament of 90 each 32-pound cannon.
 

Her first task was to protect the approaches to Boston Harbor with the USS CONSTITUTION. She carried the broad pennant of Commodore William Bainbridge. She was under the command of Captain William Crane. The war, however, was soon over and no opportunity was given to the new ship to prove her worth in a battle. In June of 1815 she sailed as flagship to the Mediterranean, where she was again fated not to be involved in any fighting due to the fact that peace had already been enforced by a squadron under Stephen Decatur prior to her arrival. She did lead an impressive show of American naval might before the Barbary ports that encouraged them to keep the peace treaties that were already concluded. Having served notice of the rising American sea power and added to the prestige of the U.S. NAVY, USS INDEPENDENCE returned to Newport on 15 November 1815. She continued to wear the pennant of Commodore Bainbridge at Boston until 29 November, 1819, then was flagship of Commodore John Shaw until placed in ordinary in 1822.

Poorly designed as a three-decker 74-gun ship of the line, USS INDEPENDENCE had only 3 ˝ feet of clearance between her lower gun ports and the waterline. This made it very problematical for her to use her lower gundeck in a battle in anything but very calm weather. For this reason she remained in ordinary at Boston until 1836, when she was razeed – that is, her spar deck was removed – and she was again commissioned as a 54-gun frigate. In this configuration USS INDEPENDENCE proved to be one of the fastest and most powerful “frigates” of the U.S. NAVY.

USS INDEPENDENCE, being recommissioned on 26 March 1837 then sailed from Boston on 20 May 1837 as the flagship of Commodore John B. Nicholson. Her first assignment was to convey to Kronstadt the US minister to Russia George Dallas, en route to his new post at St. Petersburg. She arrived at Portsmouth, England, 13 June, called at Copenhagen; then proceeded into Kronstadt 29 July 1937 to receive a visit from the Emperor of Russia. Two days later a steam boat arrived to take Mr. Dallas and his family to St. Petersburg.

Having received marked social courtesies from the Russian government, USS INDEPENDENCE departed Kronstadt on 13 August 1837 for Rio de Janeiro, where she became flagship of the Brazil Squadron to guard American commerce along the eastern seaboard of South America. This duty continued into the spring of 1839. She then returned to New York on 30 March 1840 were she was laid up in ordinary until 14 May, 1842. She then became the flagship of Commodore Charles Stewart in the Home Squadron where she was based at both Boston and New York. Following the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846, she sailed for Monterey, California. She entered Monterey Bay on 22 January 1847 and became the flagship of Commodore William B. Shubrick, commanding the Pacific Squadron. The Pacific Squadron, which also comprised the frigate USS CONGRESS (44) and three sloops assisted the USS INDEPENDENCE in the blockade of the Mexican coast, capturing Mexican ship CORREO and a launch on 16 May 1847. She was present to support the capture of Guaymas on 19 October and landed bluejackets and Marines to occupy Mazatlan on 11 November. She later cruised as far as Hawaii, arriving in Honolulu on 12 August 1848. A mild outbreak of measles among her crew quickly spread to the Hawaiian people with devastating effect: it is thought that approximately 10% of the population of Hawaii was killed as a result. She returned to the East Coast at Norfolk, Virginia on 23 May 1849 and decommissioned there on 30 May.

She was again re-commissioned on 7 July 1849 and departed Norfolk on 26 July under Captain Thomas A. Conover to serve as flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron under Commodore Charles W. Morgan. She was the first U.S. man-of-war to show the flag at Spezia, Italy, arriving on 23 May 1850 for an enthusiastic welcome. She returned to Norfolk on 25 June 1852 and was placed once again in ordinary at New York on 3 July 1852.

USS INDEPENDENCE was again recommissioned in September of 1854 and departed New York on 10 October to serve as the flagship of the Pacific Squadron under Commodore William Mervine. She arrived at Valparaiso, Chile on 2 February 1855. Her cruising ground ranged from San Francisco to Hawaii and back to Chile. At the end of this cruise she proceeded from Panama Bay to Mare Island Navy Yard on 2 October, 1857 where she then served as a receiving ship until decommissioned again on 3 November 1912. Her name was struck from the U.S. NAVY list on 3 September, 1913, but it does not completely end there.

She was sold to John H. Rinder and left the Mare Island Navy Yard on 28 November, 1914. She was towed to the Union Iron Works in San Francisco. On 5 March 1915 she shifted to Hunter’s Point, and remained there for a week. Some repairs were made to her and she was first planned to be used as a restaurant for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. For some reason this plan was not executed, although a permit was given to do this. Following this, the pig iron and ballast were removed from the hold of the ship and valuable hard wood salvaged from her orlop deck knees. On the night of 20 September, 1915, USS INDEPENDENCE was burned on the Hunter’s Point mud flats to recover her metal fittings. The sturdy veteran of the days of wooden ships and iron men had survived more than a century, 98 years of which were spent serving the U.S. NAVY.