Samuel Rhoads Franklin

Samuel Rhoads Franklin (August 24, 1825 – February 24, 1909) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. He participated in the important Battle of Hampton Roads off the U.S. state of Virginia in 1862, served as the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., from 1884 to 1885, and was president of the International Marine Conference of 1889.

Early life

Samuel Rhoads Franklin was born August 24, 1825, in York, Pennsylvania, to Walter S. and Sarah ( Buel) Franklin. His father was Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and his paternal great-grandfather was Samuel Rhoads, who had served in the First Continental Congress and as Mayor of Philadelphia in 1774. The Franklins were a prominent Quaker family in New York state. One Franklin ancestor married Senator and New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, while another married New York Governor and Vice President George Clinton. Samuel was one of six children. His older brother, William Buel, was born in 1823. Another brother, Thomas, was born in 1828; a sister, Anne, in 1830; another brother, Frederick Buel, in 1832; and another brother, Walter Simonds Jr., in 1835.

Franklin attended several private schools as a youth before completing his education at York County Academy, a prep school.

Early naval career

On February 18, 1841, Franklin enlisted at the age of 15 in the United States Navy as a midshipman. As the United States Naval Academy would not be established until 1844, "midshipmen were left to educate themselves and one another. Their schools were held in receiving ships and cruising vessels, in the midst of a thousand interruptions and impediments, which render dthe whole system of little or no value." He was assigned to the of the Pacific Squadron, serving aboard her until 1843. The United States believed war was imminent with Mexico, and the commander of the Pacific Squadron had standing orders to seize the Mexican Pacific port city of Monterey in Alta California (now part of the U.S. state of California). Hearing a false report that war had broken out, the Pacific Squadron left Lima, Peru, and seized Monterey without a fight October 19–20, 1842.

At the time, the United States had no ports on the Pacific coast of North America, and naval vessels relied on storeships—naval vessels loaded with supplies and fresh water which sat, stationary, at sea. About June 1844, Franklin left the ''United States'' to serve aboard the storeship .

Antebellum naval advancement

In late 1844, at his own request, Franklin joined the sloop-of-war . The ship spent some months cruising the North Pacific and the coast of Central America, and Franklin and some of his fellow sailors took several days to explore the interior of Nicaragua near the port city of El Realejo. When the Mexican–American War broke out in the spring of 1846, the ''Levant'' joined the Pacific Squadron and sailed to Monterey again. Franklin took part in the landing party which captured the city (uncontested) on July 7.

The ''Levant'' was ordered to return to the United States shortly thereafter. The ship arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, on April 28, 1847. Although Franklin could have joined the Class of 1847 immediately, it would have left him just two months to prepare for his examination. He therefore decided to put off entrance at the Naval Academy until October, and spent the months of July, August, and September at home in York, Pennsylvania. Upon his entry to the Naval Academy, on August 10, 1847, Franklin was promoted to "passed midshipman". Instruction lasted nine months, and Franklin passed. He was assigned to the United States Coast Survey, which he joined in mid-July 1848. The survey team spent the autumn months surveying the coast beginning at Cape Henlopen, Delaware; moving south to the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula; and up and down the east and west coasts of Chesapeake Bay. The winter was spent in quarters in Washington, D.C., and survey work resumed in the spring of 1849.

In mid-spring 1849, Franklin was ordered to leave the U.S. Coast Survey and report to the razeed , then being fitted out in Norfolk as the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron. The ''Independence'' sailed for the Mediterranean Sea on July 26, 1849. After an uneventful three-year cruise, the ship returned to Norfolk in June 1852 and was sent to drydock in New York City, where she arrived on July 3, 1852.

Franklin was given three months' leave, but was ordered to report to the sloop-of-war for another three-year cruise of the Mediterranean before it was up. Before the ''Saranac'' sailed, however, Franklin's ordered were changed and he was assigned to the . The ''Dolphin'' was to cruise the northern Atlantic Ocean, taking deep-sea soundings to determine whether a subsurface ridge, plateau, or mount existed on which an undersea telegraph cable might be laid. In March 1853, the ''Dolphin'' made port at Norfolk, and Franklin was assigned to the U.S. Coast Survey again. He helped survey the coast around Woods Hole, Massachusetts; Sandy Hook, New Jersey; and along New England in the fall of 1853, wintered in Washington, D.C., again, and in the spring of 1854 worked around Nantucket Shoals off Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

In October 1854, Franklin was reassigned to the Naval Academy, where he served as a disciplinary officer in the Executive Department. He was promoted to Master on April 18, 1855. Unhappy acting as a spy on midshipmen, he requested a transfer to the Department of Ethics and English Studies, which was granted in the fall of 1855. He was promoted to lieutenant on September 14, 1855, making his naval rank commensurate with his instructor's status.

At the end of the fall term of 1856, Franklin was assigned to the . The ''Falmouth'' was in drydock, and did not relaunch until January 12, 1857. She was assigned to the Brazil Squadron, an understrength group of vessels patrolling the coast of South America from Venezuela to the Falkland Islands with the goal of protecting American shipping, indicting the West African slave trade, and protect American interests in the emerging region. During this time, the ''Falmouth'' participated in the Paraguay expedition, and cruised the Paraná River and Río de la Plata until April 1859. The ''Falmouth'' then returned to New York City on May 19, 1859, and was decommissioned.

After three months of leave, Franklin was assigned in September 1859 to the Ordnance Department of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. After a few months, he was transferred to the U.S. Naval Observatory across town. Neither duty involved any training or experience; officers were expected to pick up knowledge on their own, and Franklin strongly disliked the work. He left the Observatory in mid-1860 and took several months' leave again.

Civil War duty

In late 1860, Franklin was assigned to the sloop-of-war . The ship was part of the Home Squadron, which patrolled the East Coast and Gulf Coast, suppressing piracy and the slave trade and assisting ships in distress. Franklin set sail from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the ''Macedonian'' on January 12, 1860. The American Civil War was on the verge of breaking out, and secessionists had seized the harbor at Pensacola, Florida. The ship stopped at the U.S. Navy base at Key West, Florida, and the Dry Tortugas. While at the Dry Tortugas, Franklin met Lieutenant Colonel Montgomery C. Meigs, then somewhat furtively taking stock of the various United States ports, forts, and harbors in the Deep South with an eye toward holding them if war broke out. Meanwhile, with the end of the Mexican-American War in 1847, Mexico had slid further into turmoil. With foreign intervention looming and a possible civil war, the Navy ordered the ''Macedonian'' to depart for the Mexican city of Veracruz to monitor events in that nation. Arriving at Veracruz, Franklin remained with the ship for some months before the ''Macedonian'' began patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies. She received orders to sail for the Boston Navy Yard, reaching Massachusetts on January 16, 1862.

Battle of Hampton Roads

With the Civil War raging, Franklin was ordered back to the Washington Navy Yard, where he assisted in outfitting the gunboat . He was then assigned as the executive officer of the , and rushed to Fort Monroe at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Because the ''Dacotah'' was still at sea, Franklin took up quarters aboard the .

While Franklin waited, the Confederate States Navy completed construction of the ironclad warship CSS ''Virginia''. Development and construction of the warship was widely reported in the North, which was deeply alarmed. On March 4, 1862, the ''Virginia'' was declared ready for combat. On March 8, the ''Virginia'' was towed down the Elizabeth River to engage the Union Navy fleet which awaited her: The ''Roanoke'', , , , and . The ''Roanoke'' and the ''Minnesota'' were both steamships, and the most powerful warships in the Union naval squadron. But ''Roanoke's'' main shaft had been damaged four months earlier, and a replacement shaft was delayed due to the crush of wartime production orders. Instead, she relied on steam tugboats and her sails for maneuverability. ''Roanoke's'' captain, John Marston, was acting commander of the flotilla.

The ''Virginia'' entered Hampton Roads at 1:30 PM, and by 2:20 PM had engaged the ''Cumberland''. The ''Roanoke'' passed the Rip Raps (a small, man-made island in the harbor's mouth) about the same time, she and her three tugs struggling against the current. As she passed Sewell's Point, Confederate shore batteries fired on her. She returned fire, but her gun was too weak to reach them in return. By 2:55 PM, ''Virginia'' had critically injured ''Congress'', and 10 minutes later rammed ''Cumberland''. After being bombarded by ''Virginia'', ''Cumberland'' sank at 3:25 PM. ''Minnesota'' ran firmly aground at 3:10 PM, and ''St. Lawrence'' at 5:30 PM. ''Roanoke'' withdrew at 4:10 PM. She ran aground on a shoal about 4:30 PM, although the tide lifted her off again a few minutes later, and she returned to Fort Monroe and the safety of the Union shore guns. By 5:45 PM, ''Congress'' had surrendered and was afire, and ''Virginia'' shelled both the ''Minnesota'' and ''St. Lawrence''. But darkness began to fall, and the Confederate ship retreated to Sewell's Point for the night.

At 9:00 PM, the dropped anchor beside ''Minnesota''. When the battle began again at about 8:30 AM on March 9, the only two ships to engage in active battle were the ''Virginia'' and ''Monitor'' (although the ''Minnesota'', still aground, fired shots to defend herself).

''Dacotah''

The ''Roanoke'' departed for New York City after the battle, leaving Franklin ashore for a few days until the ''Dacotah'' arrived. The ship was assigned to the North Atlantic Blocking Squadron, serving in the waters off Hampton Roads as part of the Union blockade of the Confederacy. On May 18 and 19, 1862, Franklin and the ''Dacotah'' participated in an exchange of gunfire with Confederate shore batteries at Sewell's Point. He witnessed the scuttling and burning of the ''Virginia'' on May 11, 1862, and cruised to New Orleans

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