USS Warren
Frigate · United States · Lost 1779 · Cape Ann & the Gulf of Maine
The Continental Navy's flagship in the failed 1779 Penobscot Expedition, burned by her own crew in the river rather than let her fall to the British.
The Vessel and Her Loss
USS Warren was one of the first Continental Navy frigates completed, built at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1776. As flagship of Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, she led the ill-fated 1779 Penobscot Expedition against a British fort in Maine. When a British relief squadron trapped the American fleet, Warren and the rest of the ships retreated up the Penobscot River and were burned to prevent capture, in what remained the U.S. Navy's worst defeat until Pearl Harbor.
Vessel
- 1776
- Sylvester Bowers
- Providence, Rhode Island
- Wood
- 132 ft
- 34 ft
- Not established
- Sail
- Continental Navy
Loss
- August 14, 1779
- Intentional sinking
- Penobscot River, near Bangor, Maine
- Penobscot River
- Boston, Massachusetts → Majabigwaduce (Castine), Maine
- Not established
- Not established
- No confirmed deaths documented in the ship's destruction; crew escaped overland.
- Dudley Saltonstall
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Penobscot River near Bangor, Maine
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (82/100)
The precise location and condition of the wreck site in the Penobscot River are not established in the sources reviewed.
Naval History and Heritage Command, DANFS
Build, service, and loss details
U.S. Naval War College Review, 'An American Naval Expedition to Penobscot, 1779'
Expedition and loss narrative
