USS Powhatan (1850)
USS Powhatan
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| Name: | USS Powhatan |
| Namesake: | Powatan |
| Builder: | Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia |
| Cost: | $785,000 |
| Laid down: | 6 August 1847 |
| Launched: | 14 February 1850 |
| Commissioned: | 2 September 1852 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 June 1886 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 5 August 1887 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | steam frigate |
| Tonnage: | 2415 |
| Displacement: | 3,765 long tons (3,825 t) |
| Length: | 253 ft 8 in (77.32 m) |
| Beam: | 45 ft (14 m) |
| Draft: | 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine, 1,500 hp (1,119 kW), side paddlewheels |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Complement: | 289 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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The first USS Powhatan was a sidewheel steam frigate in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for Powhatan, a Native American chief of eastern Virginia. She was one of the last, and largest, of the United States Navy's paddle frigates.
Powhatan's keel was laid on 6 August 1847 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, then Gosport Shipyard, at Portsmouth, Virginia. Her engines were constructed by Mehaffy & Company. She cost $785,000. She was launched on 14 February 1850 by the Norfolk Navy Yard and commissioned on 2 September 1852, Captain William Mervine in command.
After shakedown out of the Norfolk Navy Yard, Powhatan joined the Home Squadron as flagship of Commodore John T. Newton and sailed for New York where she was visited by the Secretary of the Navy, John P. Kennedy. She departed New York on 16 October 1852 for Vera Cruz with the new Minister to Mexico, Judge Alfred Conkling, on board and returned to Norfolk on 27 November via Havana and Pensacola.
Powhatan, under Comdr. William J. McCluney, was next assigned to the East India Squadron and arrived on station via Cape of Good Hope on 15 June 1853. Her arrival in Chinese waters coincided with an important phase of Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition to open commercial relations with the Japanese. She was Perry's flagship during his November visit to Whampoa. On 14 February 1854 she entered Edo Bay with the rest of the squadron, remaining until the Convention of Kanagawa was signed on 31 March 1854 as part of Perry's show of force. After the signing of the treaty, the squadron moved to Shimoda, one of the ports opened by the treaty and the site of a future American consulate to conduct surveying operations. While at Shimoda, Yoshida Shoin came aboard and unsuccessfully requested to be taken to the United States.
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