Description: This 4-pound gun lacks national markings, but records indicate that it was captured during the war of 1812; its vent field is conspicuously mutilated by extensive drilling or hammering with a pick-like instrument. Its general configuration dates it in the second half of the 18th century, or,...
Date Created: 1843
Description: This piece is an Austrian 6-pounder rifled howitzer manufactured at Vienna in 1843. Its weight is indicated at the forward end of the second reinforce as "7c 6f." In the Austrian measure of the time, this meant seven centners (hundredweight), six pfund (pound); the Austrian pfund weighed...
Date Created: 1793
Description: This is a French 4-pounder smoothbore gun, cast at Lyons in 1793 and apparently captured during the Quasi-War with France (1798-1800). Manufactured in the year in which Louis XVI went to the guillotine, it has its founder's identification on the breech face with the republican slogan "...
Description: The markings on the top of the tube indicate that this 12-pounder cast-iron gun was made by Preston Company of England. It bears the East India Company mark. An 1834 inventory at the Brooklyn Navy Yard included a gun identical except that its weight was marked: 25: 0: 12.
Description: This 19th century bone powder horn is decorated with many masonic and other popular symbols. The cross, the anchor, and the star symbolize faith, hope and charity. The crescent and star represent divinity and sovereignty in Mohammedanism. The frog alludes to the popular fairy tale in which the...
Description: This 4.63-inch howitzer only has the founder's or user's identification number "249" for identification. Though its caliber is smaller than that of Nos. 21 and 22, its proportions are similar. A small vent piece is raised forward of the breech ring.
Description: The French seventy-four gun ship Hoche originally carried this gun. She was captured by the English, who sold the battery to the United States. This gun served for a time on a Haytian privateer and was then returned to New York until the War of 1812. During the war, it was...
Description: This piece, as well as the five which follow, are typical howitzers of the kind used from the late 1600s into the early 1800s. Unlike their longer-barrelled mid-19th century descendants in this collection (Nos. 1,3,4, and 7), they are only about four calibers long. This howitzer and No.22 are...
Description: This piece is a 5.625-inch howitzer; the lack of identification on this weapon indicates that it may have been cast for the export trade. This howitzer, like most of its contemporaries, is chambered; that is, the powder chamber is"necked" down to a smaller diameter than the bore. The...
Date Created: October 10, 1776
Description:
John Hancock's signature is affixed to this commissioning document for Abraham Whipple, which made him the captain of the Providence in the Continental Navy.
The document reads, "The Delegates of the...
Description: Hyman George Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy and a colorful, controversial man; served the United States Navy for 64 years. During World War II, he served in the Bureau of Ships in Washington D.C., as head of the electrical section. After the war, Rickover pushed for nuclear propulsion in...
Description:
The 24-gun ship Alfred, built in Philadelphia in 1774, was purchased by the Continental Navy in November 1775 and named for the Saxon king who is considered the founder of the English Navy. Alfred served as Commodore Hopkins' flagship for the...
Description: A piece of Philadelphia ware probably used by Surgeon Thomas Hamilton for mixing drugs for sailors during the War of 1812.
Description: A piece of Philadelphia ware probably used by Surgeon Thomas Hamilton for mixing drugs for sailors during the War of 1812.
Description: The Arctic pick is a handy tool for traversing the polar landscape and dealing with the ice-ridden land mass surrounding the South Pole.
Date Created: 1852
Description: This is an Austrian rifled 6-pounder howitzer of a pattern, later than that of No. 1. Made in Vienna in 1852, it has one reinforce instead of the two of No. 1, and its outline is noticeably more functional, lacking the older weapons ornamental rings and astragals. In dimensions and lines, though,...
Date Created: 1854
Description: This is an Austrian rifled 6-pounder howitzer of a pattern, later than that of No. 1. Forged in Vienna in 1854, it has one reinforce instead of the two of No. 1, and its outline is noticeably more functional, lacking the older weapons ornamental rings and astragals. In dimensions and lines, though...
Description: Located just east of Jericho, on the Jordan River was a popular pilgrimmage site. It is believed to be the location where John the Baptist performed many baptisms, including that of Jesus. William Lynch and his party watched the arrival and departure of a part of 8,000 pilgrims from their camp near...
Date Created: C. 1945
Description: From 25 July 1943 to 27 August 1945, U.S.S. Balao served in the Pacific Ocean. Her flag shows that Balao destroyed one warship and nine merchant vessels during here ten patrols. Postwar assessments, however, reduced the claim to seven Japanese ships totaling 36,500 tons plus an additional 1,100...
Date Created: C. 1940s
Description: Launched 1 June 1942, Gurnard first patrolled the Bay of Biscay for German blockade runners. By 12 June 1943 she was transferred to the Pacific Ocean. There, Gurnard received six battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation, while her captain, Lieutenant Commander C.H. Andrews, earned the Navy Cross...
Date Created: C. 1940s
Description: Commissioned on 19 May 1944, U.S.S. Spot registered the destruction of 16 merchant vessels on her three war patrols in the Pacific. Much more elaborate than the other flags, spot's flag not only records the number of kills but also lists the ships' names. As seen on the flag, Spot...
Date Created: C. 1940s
Description: During World War II, U.S.S. Flying Fish partolled the waters off of Midway, Taiwan, Iwo Jima and the Marianas Islands. While under the command of Lieutenant Commander Glynn R. Donaho and Lieutenant Robert D. Risser, Flying Fish received 12 battle stars and was credited with damaging a Japanese...
Date Created: c. 1781-1815
Description: This blunderbuss was made by Newton, a gunsmith in Grantham, England, between 1781 and 1815. Weapons of this type were used by sailors in both th eBritish and American navies during the early 19th century.
Description: Lieutenant Lynch and the Midshipman Richmond Aulcik commanded Fanny Mason and Fanny Skinner during the descent of the Jordan River at fifteen miles per day. Although battered by the river's rapids, the metal boats survived the trip.
Date Created: c. 1800s
Description: The people of Essex County and Salem, Massachusetts, presented the 36-gun frigate Essex to the U.S. Navy in 1799. Within weeks she began active service in the Quasi-War with France. Essex had two tours of duty in the Mediterranean against the Barbary pirates...
Description: The expedition to the Dead Sea was dangerous. In order to protect the expedition boats from possible attack, there was a blunderbuss mounted to the bow of one of the boats. In case of attack, the members of the crew used the blunderss as their source of protection. Lieutenant John Dahlgren, a...
Date Created: c. 1813
Description: These handguns with non-corrosive brass barrels were often bought by naval officers as personal sidearms.
Description: Captain John Paul Jones gained prominence in the Continental Navy's Alfred and Providence in 1776. Sailing off Nova Scotia, he captured over fifteen vessels, including the heavily armed Mellish. After the French Alliance enabled the Navy...
Date Created: C. 1816
Description: This eprouvette mortar was commonly used to test powder during the early 19th century when the quality and purity of powder varied greatly from batch to batch. If the powder charge was too great, the cannon might burst.
Description:
Having spent nearly 13 years at sea, the decommissioned frigate St. Lawrence was quickly prepared for war in 1861, joining the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. She sank a Confederate privateer and captured two blockade-runners in Hampton Roads, Virginia. On March 8,...
Description: In late 1776 Navy Captain Barry volunteered for service in the Continental Army. Under militia commander General John Cadwalader, he served with a company of Marines at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. General George Washington also chose him to be his courier to convey wounded prisoners...
Description: Matthew Parke, Captain of Continental Marines, sailed in 1777 in sloop Ranger under John Paul Jones, whom he had come to know in Alfred the year before. In 1779, Parke transferred to Pierre Landais's frigate Alliance, in which he...
Description: A pair of spectacles, made in Paris, belonging to Matthew Parke, Captain of Continental Marines. Parke sailed in 1777 in sloop Ranger under John Paul Jones, whom he had come to know in Alfred the year before. In 1779, Parke transferred to Pierre Landais's...
Description: Matthew Parke, Captain of Continental Marines, sailed in 1777 in sloop Ranger under John Paul Jones, whom he had come to know in Alfred the year before. In 1779, Parke transferred to Pierre Landais's frigate Alliance, in which he...
Description: This certificate, along with the medal, was also presented to Lieutenant Lynch by the Societe de Geographie de France to honor his achievements of the survey work performed in the Holy Land.
Description: Citation: On board the flagship USS Hartford during action against rebel gunboats, the ram Tennessee, and Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. Wounded and taken below to the surgeon when a shell burst between the two forward 9-inch guns, killing and...
Description: Construction workers on the new Naval Sea Systems Command complex site on the west side of the Wasington DC Navy Yard discovered this pipe during excavations in 1999. Given the location of the find, it seems a yard wokrer lost the pipe near the timber storage pond. The use of tobacco was common in...
Description: Presented to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead by Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain, these coins honor Shaikh Isa Bin ali Al-Khalifa, Shaikh Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, Shaikh Isa Bin...
Description: Captain Francis D. Lee invented the frame torpedo-mine to help defend his native Charleston, South Carolina. The captain filled cast-iron shells with gunposder, then mounted them on heavy timbers, which he secured to the bottom of the harbor. Lying three feet under water, these would detonate when...
Description: Cruising off Guadeloupe on the morning of February 1, 1800, Thomas Truxtun sighted the French frigate La Vengeance and began pursuit. Poor winds delayed action until dusk. Gun crews worked by the light of battle lanterns and flashes of gunfire. The ships fought broadside to...
Description: Oliver Hazard Perry built his fleet of ships with the assistance of Adam and Noah Brown. Using the green timber that grew beside Lake Erie, the Browns built Perry two 20-gun brigs, Lawrence and Niagara, as well as a flotilla of smaller crafts. This copper spike...
Description: During the summer of 1804, Commodore Edward Preble decided to send gunboats to bombard the fortifications in Tripoli Harbor. Stephen Decatur, the youngest captain in the U.S. Navy at age 25, was in charge of a division of three gunboats. He and his men plunged into the midst of nine enemy boats and...
Description: Dental surgeons on Joshua Barney's flotilla during the War of 1812 twisted rotting or diseased teeth out of sailors' mouths.
Description: During the War of 1812, the officers and sailors on the gunboats in Joshua Barney's flotilla dined off these locally and Pennsylvanian procuded dishes. The naval agent purchased them at a cost of twelve for $5.00.
Description: During the War of 1812, the officers and sailors on the gunboats in Joshua Barney's flotilla dined off these locally and Pennsylvanian procuded dishes. The naval agent purchased them at a cost of twelve for $5.00.
Description: Born in Maine, Preble served in the Massachusetts Navy during the Revolution. After the war, he sailed for 15 years in various merchantmen before joining the newly organized navy druing the Quasi War. Preble was given command of Essex in 1799 and promoted to captain. In 1803, he...
Description: Swedish naval architect John Ericsson used this lantern as he examined the ironclad Monitor during her five-month construction in New York. The light came from a candle protected by a glass chimney.
Description: Dinner bell inscribed to Esek Hopkins of Providence, Rhode Island, Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy, 1776. It was presented to the city of Providence by the USS Providence in 1945.
Date Created: c. 1800s
Description: David G. Farragut, later a famous Civil War admiral, owned this sword while a midshipman on board the frigate, Essex, in 1813. The sword is of the type carried by U.S. Navy officers in the 1803-1815 period.