USS New Hampshire ( 1864 ) USS " New Hampshire " ( 1864 ) was a heavy ( ) ship originally designed to be the 74 - gun ship of the line " Alabama " , but she remained on the stocks for nearly 40 years , well into the age of steam , before being renamed and launched as a storeship and depot ship during the American Civil War . She was later renamed to USS " Granite State " . As " Alabama " , she was one of " nine ships to rate not less than 74 guns each " authorized by Congress on 29 April 1816 , and was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard , Maine , in June 1819 , the year the State of Alabama was admitted to the Union . Though ready for launch by 1825 , she remained on the stocks for preservation ; an economical measure that avoided the expense of manning and maintaining a ship of the line . Launched for duty in the Civil War . Renamed " New Hampshire " on 28 October 1863 , she was launched on 23 April 1864 , fitted out as a storeship and depot ship of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron , and commissioned on 13 May 1864 , Commodore Henry K . Thatcher in command . " New Hampshire " sailed from Portsmouth , New Hampshire on 15 June and relieved sister ship on 29 July 1864 as store and depot ship at Port Royal , South Carolina , and served there through the end of the Civil War . Post - Civil War service . She returned to Norfolk , Virginia on 8 June 1866 , serving as a receiving ship there until 10 May 1876 , when she sailed back to Port Royal . She resumed duty at Norfolk in 1881 but soon shifted to Newport , Rhode Island . She became flagship of Commodore Stephen B . Luce ' s newly formed Apprentice Training Squadron , marking the commencement of an effective apprentice training program for the Navy . Four of " New Hampshire " ' s crewmen earned the Medal of Honor for jumping overboard to rescue fellow sailors from drowning in two separate 1882 incidents : Quartermaster Henry J . Manning and Ship ' s Printer John McCarton on 4 January 1882 , and Boatswain ' s Mate James F . Sullivan and Chief Boatswain ' s Mate Jeremiah Troy on 21 April 1882 . The " New Hampshire " was towed from Newport to New London , Connecticut in 1891 and was receiving ship there until decommissioned on 5 June 1892 as was described by Fred J . Buenzle , who had served aboard the " New Hampshire " , as noted in " Bluejacket ; An Autobiography " , a part of the " Classics Of Naval Literature " series . The following year she was loaned as a training ship for the New York Naval Militia , which was to furnish nearly a thousand officers and men to the Navy during the Spanish - American War . Renamed Granite State . " New Hampshire " was renamed Granite State on 30 November 1904 to free the name " New Hampshire " for a newly authorized battleship ( . Stationed in the Hudson River , " Granite State " continued training service throughout the years leading to World War I when State naval militia were practically the only trained and equipped men available to the Navy for immediate service . They were mustered into the Navy as National Naval Volunteers . Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels wrote in his " Our Navy at War " : Sinking after fire at New York pier . " Granite State " served the New York State Militia until she caught fire and sank at her pier in the Hudson River on 23 May 1921 . Her hull was sold for salvage on 19 August to the Mulholland Machinery Corporation . Refloated in July 1922 , she was taken in tow to the Bay of Fundy . The towline parted during a storm , she again caught fire and sank off Half Way Rock near Manchester - By - The - Sea , MA on 26 July . The shipwreck is in of water , and is an easy scuba dive . Although the hull is mostly buried in the sand , small artifacts and copper spikes may still be found . The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 29 October 1976 , reference number 76000261 .