USS Philadelphia (1776)

USS Philadelphia (1776)

Philadelphia was a gunboat (referred to in contemporary documents as a gundalow or gondola) of the Continental Navy. Manned by Continental Army soldiers, she was part of a fleet under the command of General Benedict Arnold that fought the 11 October 1776 Battle of Valcour Island against a larger Royal Navy fleet on Lake Champlain. Although many of the American boats in the battle were damaged in the battle, Philadelphia was one of the few actually sunk that day. On the days following the main battle, most of the other boats in the American fleet were sunk, burned, or captured. She is one of a few such vessels used during the American Revolutionary War to be raised.

In 1935, amateur military marine archaeologist Lorenzo Hagglund located her remains standing upright at the bottom of Lake Champlain, and had her raised. Bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution in 1961, Philadelphia and associated artifacts are part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C. She is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.