USS New Hampshire (1864) - Post-Civil War Service

Post-Civil War Service

She returned to Norfolk, Virginia on 8 June 1866, serving as a receiving ship there until 10 May 1876, when she sailed back to Port Royal. She resumed duty at Norfolk in 1881 but soon shifted to Newport, Rhode Island. She became flagship of Commodore Stephen B. Luce's newly formed Apprentice Training Squadron, marking the commencement of an effective apprentice training program for the Navy. Four of New Hampshire's crewmen earned the Medal of Honor for jumping overboard to rescue fellow sailors from drowning in two separate 1882 incidents: Quartermaster Henry J. Manning and Ship's Printer John McCarton on 4 January 1882, and Boatswain's Mate James F. Sullivan and Chief Boatswain's Mate Jeremiah Troy on 21 April 1882.

The New Hampshire was towed from Newport to New London, Connecticut in 1891 and was receiving ship there until decommissioned on 5 June 1892 as was described by Fred J. Buenzle, who had served aboard the New Hampshire, as noted in Bluejacket; An Autobiography, a part of the Classics Of Naval Literature series. The following year she was loaned as a training ship for the New York Naval Militia, which was to furnish nearly a thousand officers and men to the Navy during the Spanish-American War.