HMS Detroit (1813)

Painting of HMS Detroit by E.A Hodgkinson
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Detroit
Builder	Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard, Amherstburg
Laid down	January 1813
Launched	mid-July 1813
Commissioned	August 1813
Fate	Captured on 10 September 1813
United States
Name	USS Detroit
Acquired	10 September 1813 by capture
Out of service	1815
Fate	Sold in 1825
History
Name	Detroit
Acquired	1825
In service	1836
Out of service	September 1841
Fate	Ran aground above Niagara Falls
General characteristics as built
Type	Sloop
Tons burthen	305 (bm)
Length	92 ft 6 in (28.2 m) pp
Beam	26 ft 0 in (7.9 m)
Draught	12 ft 0 in (3.7 m)
Depth of hold	11 ft 0 in (3.4 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Armament	Design 4 × 12 pdr long guns 16 × 24 pdr carronades As built 1 × 24 pdr carronade 1 × 18 pdr carronade 2 × 24 pdr long guns 1 × 18 pdr long gun (pivot) 6 × 12 pdr long guns 8 × 9 pdr long guns

HMS Detroit was a 20-gun sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in July 1813 and serving on Lake Erie during the War of 1812. She was the most powerful British ship in the Lake Erie squadron until the Americans captured her during the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813. Detroit was commissioned into the United States Navy as its first USS Detroit. However, she was so damaged that the sloop took no further part in the war. Postwar, Detroit was sunk for preservation at Misery Bay off Presque Isle until 1833, when she was refloated and converted for commercial service. In 1841, Detroit was reduced to a hulk at Buffalo, New York, where she was purchased with the intent of sending her over Niagara Falls. The plan went awry and Detroit ran aground on a shoal before the falls and broke up.