USS Leyden (1866-1903) circa the 1890s
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Class: PINTA
Design: Tug, 1864
Displacement (tons): 306 tonnage, 450 displ.
Dimensions (feet): 148.4' oa, 137.0' pp x 26.0' x 9.5' mn
Original Armament: 2 guns (1865, designed)
Later armaments: See class notes
Complement: 50 (1919: FORTUNE)
Speed (kts.): 10
Propulsion (HP): 340
Machinery: 1 screw (see class notes)
Construction:
| AT | Name | Ord. | Builder | Keel | Launch | Commiss. |
| -- | PINTA | 20 Dec 63 | Reaney, Son & Archbold | 1864 | 29 Oct 64 | cpl. 1865 |
| -- | NINA | 20 Dec 63 | Reaney, Son & Archbold | 1864 | 27 May 65 | cpl. 1865 |
| -- | TRIANA | 20 Dec 63 | William Perine | 1864 | 29 Apr 65 | cpl. 1865 |
| -- | SPEEDWELL | 20 Dec 63 | James Tetlow | 1864 | 1865 | cpl. 1865 |
| -- | FORTUNE | 20 Dec 63 | James Tetlow | 1864 | 25 Mar 65 | cpl. 1866 |
| -- | STANDISH | 20 Dec 63 | James Tetlow | 1865 | 1865 | cpl. 1866 |
| -- | MAYFLOWER | 20 Dec 63 | James Tetlow | 1865 | 1865 | cpl. 1866 |
| -- | PALOS | 1 Oct 64 | James Tetlow | 1865 | 1865 | cpl. 1866 |
| -- | LEYDEN | 1 Oct 64 | James Tetlow | 1865 | 1866 | cpl. 1866 |
Disposition:
| AT | Name | Decomm. | Strike | Disposal | Fate | MA Sale |
| -- | PINTA | -- | 2 Jan 08 | ca 1908 | Sold | -- |
| -- | NINA | -- | 15 Mar 10 | Feb 10 | Lost | -- |
| -- | TRIANA | -- | 1891 | 2 May 91 | Sold | -- |
| -- | SPEEDWELL | -- | 1890 | Mar 91 | Sold | -- |
| -- | FORTUNE | 6 May 22 | 1922 | 22 May 22 | Sold | -- |
| -- | STANDISH | -- | 1920 | 5 Aug 21 | Sold | -- |
| -- | MAYFLOWER | -- | 1892 | 23 Sep 92 | Sold | -- |
| -- | PALOS | 25 Jan 93 | 1893 | Jan 93 | Sold | -- |
| -- | LEYDEN | -- | 30 Jan 03 | 21 Jan 03 | Lost | -- |
Class Notes:
In late 1863 the Navy added some iron tugs to its large construction program of cruising ships, the events of the war having shown the value of such vessels in carrying on warlike operations. On 14 Oct 63 the Navy advertised for proposals to build tugs of two types: large iron sea-going ones of 350 tons old and 306 tons new measurement and smaller iron ones of 170/168 tons, each carrying two guns. The bids for large tugs opened on 29 Oct 63 included three bids at around $175,000 each, one bid from Reaney, Son, & Archibold of Chester, Pa, for two tugs at $128,000 each, and one from James Tetlow of Boston for two at $84,640 each. The Navy accepted the bids from Tetlow and Reaney and rejected the rest. Tetlow quickly realized that his engineer had made an error in his estimates, but the Navy would not let him withdraw his bid and instead added two more tugs at $128,000 to his contract. On 20 Dec 63 the Navy awarded contracts for seven large tugs, including four to Tetlow, two to Reaney, and one to William Perine of Brooklyn who agreed to accept the $128,000 price instead of the $175,000 that he had bid. The Navy also awarded two small tugs, one to Perine who matched the low bid of $80,000 for this type and one to a firm that had not bid, Pusey, Jones & Co. of Wilmington, for $74,000. On 1 Oct 64 the Navy added two more large tugs to Tetlow's contract at $128,000 each, for a total program of nine large and two small tugs. On 3 Apr 65 Tetlow petitioned the Secretary of the Navy for relief, stating that he would sustain a loss not less than $80,000 on the two low price vessels and would fail to realize any profit on the two $128,000 tugs in the same contract. With the Secretary's support Tetlow then approached Congress which on 28 Feb 67 passed an act that allowed him $21,600 for extras on each of the four tugs in his 1863 contract.
The machinery of the tugs was supplied by their respective builders and the engines were probably of the single-expansion (simple) type then in general use. The Navy began building compound engines with high- and low-pressure cylinders for its larger ships in the early 1870s, and in 1914 and 1916 respectively FORTUNE and STANDISH were credited with vertical compound engines.
The main duty assignments of the individual tugs are listed in the ship notes. Most began their careers in ordinary at Navy Yards, and some spent long periods attached to these yards, alternating between periods as yard tugs, in ordinary, and in repairs. NINA, TRIANA, FORTUNE, and LEYDEN did significant service at the torpedo station at Newport, R.I. and NINA and FORTUNE then became tenders to submarines. MAYFLOWER and STANDISH both served as training ships for the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MAYFLOWER being altered probably in 1875 to serve as a training ship for cadet engineers (line officers had sail training ships) and STANDISH serving there for almost 40 years between 1880 and 1919 without major alterations. The most significant modifications were to PALOS and PINTA which were built up for service on overseas stations and became small cruising gunboats. PALOS was modified at the Boston Navy Yard before departing for the Asiatic Station in 1870 and PINTA was modified at Norfolk in 1880-1883 for service on the Pacific Station, primarily in Alaska. She then served for a decade with Naval Militias in California. FORTUNE had the most varied and the longest career of all the tugs, beginning with surveying service in the Caribbean and ending as station ship at Tutuila, American Samoa, where she was sold in 1922 after 56 years of primarily active service. She was designated YT-11 when the Navy's standard hull classification scheme was implemented on 17 Jul 20 and was considered one of the few district tugs (YT) available for service at sea.
The tugs were designed to carry two guns and generally carried no more than one or two small weapons, often none. The largest armaments were on the two vessels converted to cruising gunboats.
PALOS: 6 howitzers (1871); 4-24pdr JAD smoothbore howitzers, 2-20pdr rifled howitzers, 1-12pdr howitzer, 2-37mm Hotchkiss revolving cannon, 1 Gatling (1887).
PINTA: 2-12pdr howitzers, 1 Gatling (1887); 4-12pdr smoothbore howitzers, 1 Gatling (1888); 2-12pdr smoothbore howitzers, 1 Gatling (1895); add 1-1pdr (1897), 2-12pdr smoothbore howitzers, 3-3pdr, 1 Colt (1898); none (1900).
FORTUNE: 2-6pdr 3-1pdr (1900); none (1903); 2-3pdr (1918-19).
STANDISH: 1-6pdr and 1 torpedo tube (1897-1899), none (1900), 2-6pdr (1918-19).
The two smaller 168-ton tugs ordered in 1864 were harbor tugs and as such are outside the scope of this study. Curiously no source has been located that provides their hull dimensions or other specifications. PILGRIM, built by Pusey, Jones & Co.,was launched on 1 Nov 64 and delivered at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 2 Mar 65. She served her entire career there as a yard tug, being stricken on 1 Jan 89 and sold on 25 Mar 91. MARIA, built by William Perine, was delivered at the New York Navy Yard 11 Apr 65 and lay there in ordinary until at least July 1869. She was sunk on 4 Jan 1870 off Martha's Vineyard, Mass., in collision with the monitor MIANTONOMOH, making her by far the shortest-lived of all eleven tugs.
Ship Notes:
| AT | Name | Notes |
| -- | PINTA | Completed Oct 65. Philadelphia NYd 1865-73, North Atlantic Station 1873-76, Norfolk 1876-1883 (repairing 1880-83), en route to Alaska Jan 1884, Pacific Station 1884-92 (from tug to 4th rate 1885, gunboat), special service, Alaska,1892-96, Mare Is. 1896- 1898, Naval Militia, San Diego 1898-04, Naval Militia, California 1904-07. Ordered to be sold 2 Jan 08 and stricken same date. |
| -- | NINA | Delivered at the New York Navy Yard on 26 Sep 65. Washington NYd 1865-1870 (placed in service as a yard tug there on 6 January 1866), Newport 1870-91 (torpedo boat there 1870-79, at torpedo station 1884-91), New York NYd 1891-1905, special service 1905-06, tender to submarines 1906-10. Missing after departing Norfolk for Boston on 6 Feb 10, declared lost from 15 Mar 10 by the Navy Department and stricken as of that date. Wreck found in 1978 11 miles north-northeast of Ocean City, Md. |
| -- | TRIANA | Delivered at the New York Navy Yard on 25 Oct 65. Washington NYd 1866-79, New York 1880-87, special service at torpedo station (Newport) 1887-91. |
| -- | SPEEDWELL | Delivered at the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard 13 Nov 65. Portsmouth NYd 1865-77 (dispatch boat 1871-2), Fish Commission 1878, Washington 1878-84 (dispatch vessel 1881), Norfolk 1884-90. Declared unfit for sea service in 1890 and condemned at Norfolk. |
| -- | FORTUNE | Trial expenses reported 27 Jan 66. Washington NYd 1866-73, (Comm. at Boston NYd 19 May 71) special surveying service in the Gulf of Mexico, then at Pensacola 1874-1876, Washington 1876-77, special service 1878-1881, Norfolk 1881-88, special service 1888-90. torpedo station [Newport] 1891-97, repairs at Norfolk 1897-99, training station Newport 1899-1901, Boston 1901-02, to Pacific 1902-03, Mare Is. 1903-12 (tender to subs 1903-4 and 1908-12), Pacific reserve fleet 1912-15, Naval Station Tutuila 1915-22. To YT-11 17 Jul 20. Relieved in Samoa by ONTARIO (AT-13), ordered appraised for sale 30 Apr 22, out of commission at Tutuila 6 May 22, ordered sold 9 May 22, sold 22 May 22. |
| -- | STANDISH | Trial expenses reported 27 Jan 66. Preparing for service at Boston NYd Jan 1866, Norfolk 1866-78, Newport 1879-80, Annapolis (Naval Academy) 1880-1919. Ordered placed on sale 16 Jan 20, probably stricken this date. Sold 5 Aug 21 to P Wever & Son of Baltimore for $1,000, to buyer 31 Aug 21. |
| -- | MAYFLOWER | Transit from NYd Boston to NYd Norfolk 16-21 Feb 66. Norfolk NYd 1866-1870, Tehuantepec Expedition 1870-71, Washington 1871-72, Portsmouth (dispatch boat) 1872-73, training ship for cadet engineers at Annapolis 1874, Washington 1874-75, repaired and probably converted to training ship at Philadelphia 1875-76, training ship for cadet engineers at Annapolis 1876-81, laid up 1882-1892. |
| -- | PALOS | Boston NYd 1866-1870 (repairing 1869-70), Asiatic Station 1870- 92 (tender, from tug to 4th rate as gunboat 1871), first Navy ship to transit the Suez Canal (11-12 Aug 70), with MONOCACY shelled Korean forts and put troops ashore (10-11 Jun 71). Condemned at Nagasaki, Japan, and recommended to be sold 6 Jul 92, probably ordered sold by the Navy Department 12 Oct 92, sold at auction 25 Jan 93 for 7,000 yen in silver (last log 25 Jan 93). |
| -- | LEYDEN | Boston NYd 1866-1878, Portsmouth 1878-1897, Newport 1897- 1902 (at torpedo station 1900-1902), special service 1902-1903. Wrecked off Block Island 21 Jan 03. |
Page Notes:
AT 1864
Compiled: 26 Feb 2013
© Stephen S. Roberts, 2002-2013