- USS Minnesota (1855)
USS "Minnesota", a sailing/steam
frigate , was launched in1855 at theWashington Navy Yard and commissioned eighteen months later. She was decommissioned some five years later, but at the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War , returned to service as the flagship of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.The first "Minnesota" was actually named for the
Minnesota River , keeping with the US Navy's tradition of naming sail and steam frigates for rivers, streams and bodies of water, not for the territory and later state ofMinnesota .During the first day of the
Battle of Hampton Roads , "Minnesota" ran aground, and the following battle badly damaged her and inflicted many casualties. On the second day of the battle, "Monitor" engaged "Virginia", allowing tugs to free "Minnesota" on the morning of10 March . "Minnesota" was repaired and returned to duty, and she served until 1898, when she was stricken, beached and burnt to recover her metal fittings and to clear her name for a newly-ordered battleship.References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m11/minnesota-i.htm
ee also
*
List of naval ships named for Minnesota
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