USS Ranger, later USS Rockport and USS Nantucket (PG-23/IX-18), was a gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

 of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. A screw steamer with full-rig auxiliary sail, Ranger was destined for a very long 65-year career, serving first as a U.S. Navy gunboat from 1876 to 1920, and later as a training ship with the US Merchant Marine Academy from 1920 to 1940.

The ship was finally scrapped in 1958, but her engine, which is the only one of its type known to be still in existence, was preserved and is on display at the American Merchant Marine Museum of Kings Point, New York

Kings Point, New York

Kings Point is a village and a part of Great Neck in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the village population was 5,005.The Village of Kings Point is in the Town of North Hempstead...

.

Design and construction

Ranger was built by Harlan and Hollingsworth

Harlan and Hollingsworth

Harlan & Hollingsworth was a Wilmington, Delaware, firm that constructed ships and railroad cars during the 19th century and into the 20th century.-Founding:...

 of Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

. She was laid down in 1873 and launched in 1876.

Rangers engine was designed by the Bureau of Steam Engineering

Bureau of Steam Engineering

Bureau of Steam Engineering was set up by act of 5 July 1862, receiving some of the duties of the former Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repair. It became, by the Naval Appropriation Act of 4 June 1920, the Bureau of Engineering...

 and built by John Roach & Sons

John Roach & Sons

John Roach & Sons was a major 19th-century American shipbuilding and manufacturing firm founded in 1864 by Irish-American immigrant John Roach. Between 1871 and 1885, the company was the largest shipbuilding firm in the United States, building more iron ships than its next two major competitors...

 of Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester, Pennsylvania

Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.- History :...

. The engine is of the compound back-acting type, with cylinders of 28½ and 42½ inches respectively, and a 42-inch stroke. The pistons, cylinder liners and bearings are constructed of bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

. At 64 rpm, the 560 ihp

IHP

IHP is a three letter acronym that can stand for:*International Hydrological Programme*Indicated horsepower*Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics, a German institute and part of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community...

 engine drove the ship at a speed of 10 knots. Four coal-burning Scotch boilers supplied steam at a pressure of 80 psi

Pounds per square inch

The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units...

.

Service history

Ranger was commissioned at League Island Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, 27 November 1876, with Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 H. D. Manley in command. After completion of fitting out, Ranger was assigned to the Atlantic Station, but remained in the Gosport (Portsmouth) Navy Yard and Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

 until 8 March 1877, when she was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet. Following a special fitting out for her new duty, Ranger left New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 21 May 1877, arriving Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 24 August 1877, via Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

, Suez Canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

, and Malacca Straits. The ship served on the Asiatic Station until the fall of 1879, protecting American interests and national policy in the Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

.

Arriving at Mare Island Navy Yard 24 February 1880, she was converted into a survey vessel. From 1881 to 1889, she was engaged in hydrographic survey work off Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

, Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

, and the northern Pacific; except when protecting American national interests in the politically turbulent Central American nations. While off Ensenada

Ensenada, Baja California

Ensenada is a coastal city in Mexico and the third-largest city in Baja California. It is located south of San Diego on the Baja California Peninsula. The city is locally referred to as La Cenicienta del Pacífico, or, The Cinderella of the Pacific...

, Mexico, on 18 January 1886, Landsman John Enright rescued two shipmates from drowning, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...

.

In 1890, the Ranger, now commanded by Commander George Cook Reiter, became nationally known as the result of the Barrundia Affair. Reiter was the senior U.S. naval officer present at the the port of San José de Guatemala

Puerto San José

Puerto San José is a city on Guatemala's Pacific Ocean coast, in the department of Escuintla. It contains about 20,000 people, making it the largest place along the Pacific coast of Guatemala. It was the Pacific port for Guatemala, but this was superseded in the 20th century by Puerto Quetzal, a...

 during the attempted arrest of General J. Martín Barrundia, a rebel Guatemalan general who had unsuccessfully attempted to take over the government during a military insurrection, and was forced into exile by the Guatemalan government. Barrundia had boarded the SS Acapulco, an American-flag ship, and requested political asylum in the United States, when the ship stopped at a Guatemalan port. Rather than place a guard on the SS Acapulco for General Barrundia or offer him political asylum, Reiter delayed the General's asylum request several hours in order to gain the permission of the Guatemalan government, which never came. The SS Acapulco was later boarded by Guatemalan officers, and Barrundia killed while resisting arrest in a gunfight aboard the SS Acapulco. During the occupation of the ship, the U.S. flag was taken down, arms and supplies were seized, and the Guatemalan flag was raised in its place. The Secretary of the Navy, at the personal direction of President Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...

, ordered Lt. Commander Reiter's conduct to be investigated; the Secretary later censured Reiter and relieved him of command.

Ranger was decommissioned from 14 September 1891 to 26 August 1892 at Mare Island Navy Yard.

Upon reactivation, she was assigned to protect American seal fisheries with the Bering Sea Squadron

Bering Sea Squadron

The Bering Sea Squadron was a combined American and British naval station formed and disbanded in 1891 to suppress seal poaching in the Bering Sea...

 in 1891. On 31 January 1894, she relieved Alliance in protecting American interests in Central America, where she remained until placed out of commission 26 November 1895, except for temporary duty in the Bering Sea in May 1894.

Recommissioned 1 November 1899, she was a survey ship for 2 years off Mexico and Baja California, then operated with off Central America, protecting American national interests. She was again decommissioned from 11 June 1903 to 30 March 1905 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington...

.

She departed Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

 16 April 1905 for the Asiatic Station, arriving Cavite 30 May. Due to recurring maintenance problems, she was decommissioned again at Cavite from 21 June 1905 to 10 August 1908. Departing Cavite 16 August, she arrived Boston 12 December via the Suez Canal, and was decommissioned immediately. On 26 April 1909, she was loaned to the State of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 as a school ship

School ship

A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is especially used for ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classrooms....

 to replace Enterprise

USS Enterprise (1874)

USS Enterprise, a barque-rigged screw sloop, was launched 13 June 1874 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, USA, by John W. Griffiths, a private contractor; and commissioned 16 March 1877, Commander George C. Remey in command. She was later commanded by Bowman H...

 at the Massachusetts Nautical Training School

Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Massachusetts Maritime Academy is a regionally accredited, coeducational, state college offering undergraduate degrees in maritime-related fields, as well as graduate degrees and professional studies. Established in 1891, Mass Maritime is the second oldest state maritime academy in the country...

.

Her name was changed to Rockport 30 October 1917 and then to Nantucket 20 February 1918. As Nantucket, she operated as a gunboat in the First Naval District during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, as well as a training ship for Navy midshipmen.

Designated PG-23 in 1920, Nantucket was redesignated IX-18 on 1 July 1921. On 11 November 1940, she was transferred to the Maritime Commission for final disposition, to be used as a school ship for the Merchant Marine Academy

Merchant Marine Academy

Merchant Marine Academy may refer to:*Philippine Merchant Marine Academy*United States Merchant Marine Academy...

, Kings Point, N.Y. On 30 November 1940, she was struck from the Navy list and was returned to the state of Massachusetts as a school ship.

In 1942, she was returned to the US Merchant Marine Academy, renamed TV Emery Rice, and used once more as a training ship. She was retired in 1944 and subsequently served as a museum ship until being scrapped in 1958.

Though the ship herself was scrapped, the engine—the only back-acting type known to be still in existence—was saved from destruction by the efforts of Admiral Richard R. McNulty. The engine, which weighs 61 tons and has dimensions of 20 × 10 ft × 6 ft high, now features as the centerpiece of a display at the American Merchant Marine Museum in Kings Point, New York.