USS Santee ( 1855 ) USS " Santee " ( 1855 ) was a wooden - hulled , three - masted sailing frigate of the United States Navy . She was the first US Navy ship to be so named and was one of its last sailing frigate s in service . She was acquired by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War , outfitted with heavy guns and a crew of 480 , and was assigned as a gunship in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America . She later became a training ship for the U . S . Naval Academy . Laid down in New Hampshire in 1820 . Rated at 44 guns , she was laid down in 1820 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard , but due to a shortage of funds , she long remained uncompleted on the stocks . She was finally launched on 16 February 1855 , but not commissioned until 9 June 1861 , Captain Henry Eagle in command . Civil War service . Assigned to the Gulf of Mexico blockade . " Santee " departed Portsmouth , New Hampshire on 20 June 1861 , stopped at Hampton Roads , Virginia to load ammunition , and resumed her voyage to the Gulf of Mexico on 10 July . On 8 August , the frigate captured the schooner " C . P . Knapp " in the gulf some 350 miles south of Pensacola and escorted the blockade runner to that port . On 27 October , " Santee " took her second prize , " Delta " , off Galveston ; the hermaphrodite brig had attempted to slip into Galveston with a cargo of salt from Liverpool . Shortly before midnight on 7 November , boats left the frigate and entered Galveston Bay hoping to capture and burn the Confederate armed steamer , " General Rusk " . However , in attempting to avoid detection , the boats ran aground . Hand - to - hand fighting at sea . Since he had lost the advantage of surprise , the expedition ' s commander , Lt . James Edward Jouett , cancelled his plans to attack " General Rusk " and turned his attention to the chartered Confederate lookout vessel , " Royal Yacht " . After a desperate hand - to - hand fight , he captured " Royal Yacht " s crew , set the armed schooner afire , and retired to " Santee " with about a dozen prisoners . During the action , one man from the frigate was killed and two of her officers and six of her men were wounded , one mortally . A young 15 year old sailor named James Henry Carpenter was wounded in the thigh and mentioned in dispatches due to his actions . Carpenter would become " Santee " s acting Master ' s mate and would serve again on " Santee " when she served as a school ship for the United States Naval Academy . Another of " Santee " s sailors , George H . Bell , was awarded the Medal of Honor for his part in the action . On 30 December , after a five or six - mile chase on boats from " Santee , " they captured 14 - ton Confederate schooner , " Garonne " . Captain Eagle stripped the prize for use as a lighter . Reassigned to the West Gulf blockade . In January 1862 , when the Union naval force in the Gulf of Mexico was divided into two squadrons , " Santee " was assigned to Flag Officer David Farragut ' s new West Gulf Blockading Squadron . Under the new organization , " Santee " continued to blockade the Texas coast , primarily off Galveston , until summer . Then , because scurvy had weakened the frigate ' s crew and the enlistments of many of her sailors had expired , the ship sailed north . She reached Boston , Massachusetts on 22 August and was decommissioned on 4 September . Assigned as a midshipmen schoolship . Refitted at the Boston Navy Yard , the ship was recommissioned there exactly a month later and sailed for Newport , Rhode Island , to serve as a school ship at the United States Naval Academy which had been moved there from Annapolis , Maryland , for security during the Civil War . At Newport , midshipmen lived , studied , and attended classes in frigates " Santee " and as they prepared for positions of leadership in the Union Navy . After the close of the Civil War , the Naval Academy returned to Annapolis , Maryland , and " Santee " , carrying midshipmen , sailed for that port and moored near Fort Severn on 2 August 1865 . There , she continued her duty as school ship which she had performed at Newport . The following year , she became a gunnery ship and was used by midshipmen to master the art of naval gunnery . About the same time , the frigate began to be used as a barracks ship for midshipmen being punished and for new fourthclassmen receiving their first taste of Navy life . Santee sinks at her moorings . Before dawn on 2 April 1912 , after a half a century of duty as an educator , " Santee " sank at her mooring . Efforts to refloat the frigate proved unsuccessful . She was sold to Joseph G . Hitner , of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 2 August 1912 , the anniversary of her arrival at Annapolis . After six months of effort , she was finally raised ; and , on 8 May 1913 , " Santee " departed the Severn River under tow and proceeded to Boston , Massachusetts , where she was burned for the copper and brass in her hull .