On October 11th, 1776, USS Philadelphia joined the battle line west of Valcour Island in the west of Lake Champlain, the fleet falling under the overall command of General Benedict Arnold (Philadelphia fell under the direct command of Benjamin Rue). The American fleet was met by elements of a numerically superior Royal Navy fleet and a heavy exchange of gunfire ensued between the two sides (marking the Battle of Valcour Island). Philadelphia took a direct hit from a British 24-pounder gun along her waterline which forced her to take on water and ultimately sink where she fought. Her surviving crew were rescued by American ships and relocated south to Buttonmold Bay, Vermont. The Continental fleet suffered a devastating loss that day - many of its ships sunk or captured while others burned into the morning.
Fifteen Continental Navy warships with 500 sailors met a British force of 25 ships, nearly 700 sailors and 1,000 soldiers backed by some 650 Indians. Eleven of the American ships were lost, 120 persons captured and 80 killed or wounded. The British lost three ships and saw 40 killed or wounded.
Thus ended the sailing days of USS Philadelphia, marking a very short water-going career to say the least. It was not until the 1930s that her remains were finally located and an operation to raise her enacted (this in 1935). Her hull now makes part of an exhibit at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
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