USS Leyden (1865)

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USS Leyden (1865)
USS Leyden
Career (United States) 100x35px
Name: USS Leyden
Namesake: Original merchant ship name retained after acquisition by U.S. Navy
Builder: James Tetlow, Chelsea, Massachusetts
Launched: 1865
Fate: Foundered 21 January 1903
General characteristics
Type: Armed tug
Displacement: 35 tons
Armament: 2 guns

The first USS Leyden was a screw steamer that operated as a tug in the U.S. Navy from 1866 to 1903 and saw combat service in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Leyden was launched in 1865 by James Tetlow, Chelsea, Massachusetts. From 1866 to 1879 she operated as a yard tug at the Boston Navy Yard, performing various harbor duties out of Boston, Massachusetts, until reassigned to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1879. Leyden served there until 1897, when she was assigned to Newport, Rhode Island.

In 1898, Leyden performed towing operations off Cuba during the Spanish-American War. On 21 July 1898, her captain Walter S. Crosley joined armed yacht USS Wasp, and gunboats USS Annapolis and USS Topeka in firing on and sinking the Spanish sloop Jorge Juan in Nipe Bay, Cuba, in the Battle of Nipe Bay. She also fought at the Battle of Fajardo, bombarding enemy positions.

From 1898 to 1903, Leyden alternated her services between the Caribbean and Newport, Rhode Island. While on a return passage from Puerto Rico on 21 January 1903, the tug foundered in heavy fog off Block Island, ending her long, useful career.

References

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

External Links