USS New Orleans (1815)

The first USS New Orleans was a ship-of-the-line intended for use by the United States Navy in the War of 1812. She was never finished.

For other ships with the same name, see USS New Orleans.

The incomplete USS New Orleans in 1883, the year she was sold for scrapping
History
United States
Name:	New Orleans
Namesake:	Battle of New Orleans
Builder:	Adam and Noah Brown and Henry Eckford[1]
Laid down:	15 December 1814[2]
Launched:	Never
Completed:	Never
Commissioned:	Never
Fate:	Sold incomplete on stocks 24 September 1883
General characteristics
Type:	ship-of-the-line
Tonnage:	2,805
Length:	204 ft 0 in (62.18 m) (keel)[3]
Beam:	56 ft 0 in (17.07 m)
Armament:	63 × long 32–pounder guns 24 × 32-pounder guns

New Orleans was laid down on 15 December 1814[2] by Henry Eckford[1] and Adam and Noah Brown at Sackets Harbor, New York. She was intended for U.S. Navy use on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812 and was the largest of the ships Eckford[1] built at Sackets Harbor. If completed, she would have been the first U.S. Navy ship named New Orleans, but her construction was halted in March 1815 after the conclusion of peace with the United Kingdom. She remained on the stocks, housed over, until sold for salvage on 24 September 1883 to H. Wilkinson, Jr., of Syracuse, New York.

Notes

1. Chappelle, p. 273 and 339, claims that there is no evidence that Henry Eckford was involved in designing or building New Orleans, and attributes the idea that he was to tradition.
2. Per Chappelle, p. 273; DANFS claims she was laid down in January 1815
3. Chappelle, p. 302 and 547, claims her length was 212 feet (64.62 m)

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Chapelle, Howard I. The History of the American Sailing Navy: The Ships and Their Development. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1949. ISBN 1-56852-222-3.
• Jampoler, Andrew C. A. "Who Was Henry Eckford?" Naval History, December 2007, Pages 38–45.