{{Short description|First warship to use steam power}} {{other ships|USS Fulton}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=Launching of Demologos (1814).jpg |image_caption=''Demologos'', first steam warship }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |country=United States |flag=50px |name=''Demologos'', later ''Fulton'' |ordered=1814 |builder=company belonging to Robert Fulton |laid_down=20 June 1814 |launched=29 October 1814 |acquired= |commissioned=June 1816 |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |struck= |reinstated= |honors= |fate=Destroyed in an accidental gunpowder explosion, 4 June 1829 |notes= }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |class=Steam battery |displacement=1,450 tons |length={{convert|153|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}} |beam={{convert|58|ft|m|abbr=on}} |draught= |draft={{convert|13|ft|m|abbr=on}} |propulsion=Steam, 1 cylinder {{convert|120|hp|abbr=on}} |speed={{convert|5.5|kn}} |range= |complement= |armament=30 × 32-pounder guns 2 × 100-pounder Columbiads fitted to fire at enemy ships below their waterline<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum.state.il.us/RiverWeb/landings/Ambot/Archives/dickinson/chapter11.html|title=Chapter 11|website=www.museum.state.il.us}}</ref> |armor= 5' reinforced timber planking |notes= }} }} '''''Demologos''''' was the first warship to be propelled by a steam engine. She was a wooden floating battery built to defend New York Harbor from the Royal Navy during the War of 1812. The vessel was designed to a unique pattern by Robert Fulton, and was renamed '''''Fulton''''' after his death. Because of the prompt end of the war, ''Demologos'' never saw action, and no other ship like her was built.
==History== thumb|left|upright|Robert Fulton, designer On 9 March 1814, Congress authorized the construction of a steam warship to be designed by Robert Fulton, a pioneer of commercial steamers in North America. The construction of the ship began on 20 June 1814,{{cn|date=September 2023}} at the civilian yard of Adam and Noah Brown, and the ship was launched on 29 October.<ref name=Times231214>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Quebec Papers |date=23 December 1814 |page=2 |issue=9399 |column=B-D }}</ref> After sea trials she was delivered to the United States Navy in June 1816. The ship was never formally named; Fulton christened it ''Demologos'' or ''Demologus'', though following his death in February 1815, the ship was named ''Fulton''.
By the time she was completed, the war for which ''Demologos'' had been built had ended. She saw only one day of active service, when she carried President James Madison on a tour of New York Harbor. A two-masted lateen rig was added by the orders of her first commander, Captain David Porter. In 1821, her armament and machinery were removed. The remainder of her career was spent laid up in reserve; after 1825 she served as the floating barracks for Brooklyn Navy Yard. She came to an end on 4 June 1829 in a gunpowder explosion. She exploded while lying at anchor, killing an officer and 47 men.<ref name="Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1910">{{cite news |title=Fleet of Fifty Warships Built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/55387548/ |access-date=16 August 2018 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com |date=12 May 1910 |page=22 }} {{open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD.; Its Early History and Present Condition. Who Have Been Commanders--Vessels Pitted Oat--The Workmen and the Buildings. | website=The New York Times | date=13 March 1870 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1870/03/13/archives/the-brooklyn-navy-yard-its-early-history-and-present-condition-who.html | access-date=4 October 2018}}{{open access}}</ref>
== Design == {{Unsourced section|date=May 2026}} A catamaran, her paddlewheel was sandwiched between two hulls. Each hull was constructed {{convert|5|ft|m|abbr=on}} thick for protection against gunfire. The steam engine, mounted below the waterline in one of the hulls, had a top speed of {{convert|5.5|kn|km/h}} speed.
thumb|right|Three-view of ''Demologos'' as originally portrayed to the US government. The resulting vessel differed greatly from this early proposal.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
*Canney, Donald L. ''The Old Steam Navy, Volume One: Frigates, Sloops, and Gunboats 1815-1885.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-87021-004-1}} *Lambert, Andrew "The Introduction of Steam" in Gardiner (ed) ''Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815-1905'', Conway, London 1992. {{ISBN|0-85177-608-6}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20050410090532/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-f/fulton.htm "Fulton"], US Navy Historical Center, retrieved 25 June 2007
== External links == * {{Commonscat-inline|Demologos (ship, 1814)}}
{{1829 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demologos}} Category:Steamships of the United States Navy Category:Ships built in New York (state) Category:1814 ships Category:Maritime incidents in June 1829 Category:Floating batteries of the United States Navy