Design Problems Delay Operations
Following a fortnight's repairs, the ship sailed for the Mississippi passes to join the Home Squadron. However, continued failures with her propulsion system cut short her duty in the Gulf of Mexico; and she returned to Washington where she was placed in ordinary.
In 1851, Allegheny was towed to Portsmouth, Virginia, where the firm of Mehaffy and Company removed her Hunter Wheels and rebuilt her as a screw steamer. She was slated to join Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition which sailed for the Far East in November 1852, but failed to pass sea trials and — instead of helping to open Japan to the outside world — was placed back in ordinary at Washington, D.C.
Four years later, the ship was fitted out for service as a receiving ship; and she was taken to Baltimore, Maryland where she took up this new role. She was still there and, surprisingly, again under the command of her designer, William W. Hunter — now a commander — when the Civil War broke out in mid-April 1861.
Read more about this topic: USS Allegheny (1847)
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