USS Ranger (1777)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Ranger and HMS Halifax.

USS Ranger was a sloop-of-war in the Continental Navy, serving from 1777–1780 and the first to bear her name. Built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine, she is famed for the solo raiding campaign carried out by her first captain, John Paul Jones, during naval operations of the American Revolutionary War. In six months spent primarily in British waters, she captured five prizes (mostly merchantmen), staged a single failed attack on the English mainland at Whitehaven, and caused Royal Navy ships to be dispatched against her in the Irish Sea.

USS Ranger receiving the salute of the French fleet at Quiberon Bay, France, 14 February 1778.
History
United States
Name	USS Ranger
Builder	James Hackett (shipbuilder), Badger's Island, Kittery, Maine
Launched	10 May 1777
Captured	11 May 1780
Great Britain
Name	HMS Halifax
Acquired	11 May 1780
Decommissioned	1781
General characteristics
Type	Sloop-of-war
Displacement	308 long tons (313 t)
Length	116 ft (35 m)
Beam	28 ft (8.5 m)
Draft	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Complement	140 officers and enlisted
Armament	18 × 6-pounder guns
Service record
Commanders:	Capt. John Paul Jones (1777–1778)
Operations:	Siege of Charleston (1779–1780)
Victories:	North Channel naval duel (1778), captured 31 prizes worth well over $1,000,000

Jones was detached in Brest, France to take charge of the Bonhomme Richard, turning over responsibility for Ranger to his first officer, Lieutenant Thomas Simpson. Under Simpson, the Ranger went on to capture an additional twenty-four prizes across the Atlantic and along the U.S. coast throughout 1778 and 1779.

Receiving new orders in late 1779 to aid the American garrison at Charleston, South Carolina, during the British siege, she continued her raiding career until ultimately forced to anchor on the Cooper River, resulting in her capture on 11 May 1780, with the fall of the city. Renamed Halifax, she finished her active service as a Royal Navy ship and was decommissioned in 1781. Later that year, she was sold in Portsmouth, England to private buyers for use as a merchantman.

History

Ranger (initially called Hampshire) was launched on May 10, 1777 by James Hackett, master shipbuilder, at the shipyard of John Langdon on what is now called Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine. Captain John Paul Jones was named her first commander.

Continental Navy

After fitting out, she sailed for France on November 1, 1777, carrying dispatches telling of General Burgoyne's surrender to the commissioners in Paris. On the voyage over, two British prizes were captured. Ranger arrived at Nantes, France, on December 2, where Jones sold the prizes and delivered the news of the victory at Saratoga to ambassador Benjamin Franklin. On February 14, 1778, Ranger received a nine-gun salute to the new American flag, the "Stars and Stripes" from the ship of the line Robuste, under Lamotte-Picquet, at Quiberon Bay. This was the first salute from a warship and, the second to an American fighting vessel by a foreign power (the first salute was received by Andrew Doria when on November 16, 1776 she arrived at St. Eustatius and the Dutch island returned her 11-gun salute).

Ranger sailed from Brest April 10, 1778, for the Irish Sea and four days later captured the brigantine "Dolphin" between the Scilly Isles and Cape Clear and scuttled it. On 16 April, she took ship "Lord Chatham" 5 leagues from Cape Clear and sent her to Brest, France. On the 19th sunk a Scottish coastal schooner in the Mull of Galloway. On the 20th sunk a sloop. Captain Jones led a raid on the English port of Whitehaven, April 23, spiking the guns of the fortress, but failing in his attempt to burn the ships in the harbor. Sailing across the bay to St. Mary's Isle, Scotland, the American captain planned to seize the Earl of Selkirk and hold him as a hostage and use him to make several political demands. However, since the Earl was absent, the plan failed. Several Royal Navy vessels were searching for Ranger, and Captain Jones sailed across the North Channel to Carrickfergus, Ireland, to induce HMS Drake of 14 guns, to come out and fight. Drake came out slowly against the wind and tide, and, after an hour's battle, the battered Drake struck her colors, with eight sailors being killed in action during the engagement on the 24th. Later on the same day she captured the brigantine "Patience". Having made temporary repairs, and with a prize crew on Drake, Ranger continued around the west coast of Ireland, capturing a lone storeship, and arrived at Brest with her prizes on May 8.

Captain Jones was detached to command Bonhomme Richard, leaving Lieutenant Simpson, his first officer, in command. Ranger departed Brest on August 21, reaching Portsmouth, New Hampshire on October 15, in company with Providence and Boston, plus three prizes taken in the Atlantic.

The sloop departed Portsmouth on February 24, 1779 joining with the Continental Navy ships Queen of France and Warren in preying on British shipping in the North Atlantic. Seven prizes were captured early in April, and brought safely into port for sale. On 18 June, Ranger was underway again with Providence and Queen of France, capturing two Jamaicamen in July and nine more vessels off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Of the 11 prizes, three were recaptured, but the remaining eight, with their cargoes, were worth over a million dollars when sold in Boston.

Underway on November 23, Ranger was ordered to Commodore Whipple's squadron, arriving at Charleston on December 23, to support the garrison there under siege by the British. On January 24, 1780, Ranger and Providence, in a short cruise down the coast, captured three transports, loaded with supplies, near Tybee, Georgia. The British army tasked with capturing Charleston was also discovered in the area. Ranger and Providence sailed back to Charleston with the news. Shortly afterwards the British commenced the final push. Although the channel and harbor configuration made naval operations and support difficult, Ranger took a station in the Cooper River, and was captured when Charleston fell on 11 May 1780.

Royal Navy

Ranger was taken into the British Royal Navy and commissioned under the name HMS Halifax. She was decommissioned in Portsmouth, England, in 1781, then sold as a merchant vessel for about 3 percent of her original cost.

Specifications

Ranger's specifications were:

• Begun: January 11, 1777
• Launched: May 10, 1777, into the Piscataqua River
• Location: Rising Castle, now Badger's Island, Kittery, Maine
• Departed: November 1, 1777
• Builder: John Langdon
• Designer: James Hackett
• Yard Boss: Tobias Lear IV (father of Tobias Lear V, Secretary to President George Washington)
• Officers:
  • John Paul Jones, Captain
  • Thomas Simpson, Portsmouth, 1st Lt
  • Elijah Hall, Portsmouth, 2nd Lt
  • Samuel Wallingford, Lt of Marines
  • Dr Ezrah Green, Dover, Surgeon
  • Mr Joseph Frazer, Sr Officer of Marines
  • Capt Matthew Parke
• Crew: 145 men including nearly half from Piscataqua area
• Cost: $65,000 Continental dollars
• Rating: Sloop of war
• Rigging: Square rigged on all three masts with royals, topgallant, and a full set of studding sails
• Arms: 18 nine-pounder guns
• Painting: Topside black with broad yellow stripe and masthead
• Dimensions: (Recorded by Royal Navy after capture)
  • 97' 2" at gundeck (est. 110' overall)
  • 77' 9" keel
  • 27' 8" beam
  • 12' depth of hold

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Feld, Jonathan (2017), John Paul Jones's Locker: The Mutinous Men of the Continental Ship Ranger and the Confinement of Lieutenant Thomas Simpson, Washington, DC: Naval History and Heritage Command.

• John Paul Jones and the Ranger by J. Dennis Robinson