USS Farragut (TB-11)

USS Farragut (TB-11) off Mare Island Navy Yard circa 1899.
History
United States
Name	Farragut
Namesake	Admiral David Farragut
Ordered	10 June 1896 (authorized)
Builder	Union Iron Works, San Francisco, CA
Laid down	26 July 1897
Launched	16 July 1898
Sponsored by	Elizabeth Ashe, Admiral Farragut's niece
Commissioned	22 March 1899
Decommissioned	13 March 1919
Renamed	Coast Torpedo Boat No. 5, 1 August 1918
Identification	TB-11
Fate	Sold, 9 September 1919
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Farragut-class torpedo boat
Displacement	279 long tons (283 t)[2]
Length	214 ft (65 m)
Beam	20 ft 8 in (6.30 m)
Draft	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) (mean)[2]
Installed power	3 × Thornycroft boilers 5,878 ihp (4,383 kW)
Propulsion	vertical triple expansion engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) 30.13 kn (34.67 mph; 55.80 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[2]
Complement	66 officers and enlisted
Armament	4 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.24 in)) guns 2 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (2x1)

The first USS Farragut (Torpedo Boat No. 11/TB-11/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 5) was a torpedo boat in the United States Navy. She was named for David Farragut, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War.

Farragut was launched 16 July 1898 by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California; sponsored by Miss Elizabeth Ashe, Admiral Farragut's niece; and commissioned 5 June 1899, Lieutenant Commander Reginald F. Nicholson in command.

Farragut's first operations were between Mare Island and Sausalito in San Francisco Bay, and occasionally south to San Diego, California, in target and torpedo practice. She was decommissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard 4 September 1902; in commission in reserve from 8 October 1904; and restored to full commission 28 March 1908 for duty with the Pacific Torpedo Fleet.

She resumed her operations along the coast of California aside from 30 May to 10 June 1908, when she sailed to visit Portland, Oregon. Farragut was placed in reserve 18 September 1909 and recommissioned 10 May 1911, again for service in the San Francisco area aside from a cruise to Bremerton, Washington, that summer. Once more, on 1 July 1912, she went into reserve, and then on 26 March 1914, into ordinary.

Between 12 January 1915 and 14 April 1917, Farragut was assigned to the San Pedro Division of the California Naval Militia as a training ship. Returning then to full commission, Farragut sailed for the Panama Canal Zone 11 July 1917, and for the remainder of World War I, patrolled both the Atlantic and Pacific entrances to the Panama Canal, and carried troops and supplies in the Balboa area.

Renamed Coast Torpedo Boat No. 5 on 1 August 1918, she completed her service in the Canal Zone 30 December, and arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard 18 January 1919. There she was decommissioned 13 March 1919 and sold 9 September 1919.

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Additional technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 157. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.

• Photo gallery of Farragut at NavSource Naval History