USS Washington ( 1814 ) USS " Washington " was a ship of the line of the United States Navy . The ship was authorized by the United States Congress on 2 January 1813 and was laid down in May of that year at the Portsmouth Navy Yard under a contract with the shipbuilders , Hart and Badger . The ship was launched on 1 October 1814 and was commissioned at Portsmouth on 26 August 1815 , Captain John Orde Creighton in command . Service history . After fitting out , " Washington " sailed for Boston on 3 December 1815 . In the spring of the following year , the ship - of - the - line shifted to Annapolis , Maryland , and arrived there on 15 May 1816 . Over the ensuing days , the man - of - war welcomed a number of distinguished visitors who came on board to inspect what was , in those days , one of the more powerful American ships afloat . The guests included Commodore John Rodgers and Capt . David Porter , Col . Franklin Wharton , the Commandant of the Marine Corps , and President and Mrs . James Madison . The Chief Executive and his lady came on board " at half past meridian , to visit the ship , on which occasion yards were manned and they were saluted with 19 guns and three cheers . " " Washington " then sailed down Chesapeake Bay and embarked William Pinckney and his suite on 5 June . On 8 June , the ship of the line set sail for the Mediterranean flying the broad pennant of Commodore Isaac Chauncey , the commander of the Navy ' s fledgling Mediterranean Squadron . " Washington " reached Gibraltar on 2 July , en route to her ultimate destination , Naples . " Washington " made port at Naples on 25 July , and Pickney debarked to commence his special mission — to adjust the claims of American merchants against the Neapolitan authorities . The talks ensued well into August . At the end of the month , the demands of diplomacy apparently satisfied , " Washington " set sail . For the next two years , the ship - of - the - line operated in the Mediterranean as flagship of the American squadron , providing a display of force to encourage the Barbary states to respect American commerce . Dignitaries that visited the American man - of - war during this Mediterranean cruise included General Nugent , the commander in chief of Austrian forces ( on 5 August 1817 ) and Prince Henry of Prussia ( on 12 August 1817 ) . On 1 February 1818 , Commodore Charles Stewart relieved Commodore Chauncey as commander of the American Mediterranean Squadron , at Syracuse harbor , after which time " Washington " cruised to Messina and the Barbary Coast . She set sail for home on 23 May 1818 — convoying 40 American merchantmen — and reached New York on 6 July 1818 . The next day , the Vice President of the United States , Daniel D . Tompkins , visited the ship ; and the warship blocked her colors at half - mast on the 8th , in honor of the interment of the remains of General Richard Montgomery , who had been killed leading the Continental assault against Quebec in 1775 . " Washington " did little cruising thereafter , remaining at New York as Commodore Chauncey ' s flagship until 1820 . Placed " in ordinary " that year , the ship - of - the - line remained inactive until broken up in 1843 .