Hull Number: DD-283
Launch Date: 09/05/2019
Commissioned Date: 12/01/2019
Decommissioned Date: 05/01/1930
Class: CLEMSON
CLEMSON Class
Namesake: JOSEPH BERRY BRECK
JOSEPH BERRY BRECK
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
Joseph Berry Breck—born in Maine in 1830—was appointed acting ensign on 27 February 1863. On 24 April 1863, Acting Ens. Breck placed the screw steamer Niphon in commission and took command of her. His ship was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and, initially, was stationed off Fort Fisher, N.C.. However, he and his ship operated off New Inlet for most of the remainder of the Civil War. Breck participated in a number of operations ashore, the most important of which was the destruction of the salt works at Masonboro Sound, N.C., on 27 August 1864. He also volunteered to participate in the operation to destroy the powerful Confederate ram Albemarle; the seniority of Lt. William B. Cushing, however, secured for that officer the undying fame that accompanied that successful exploit that might have been Breck’s.
He also joined in the capture of six of the largest blockade runners taken during the war. Probably the most important of those was the steamer Cornubia, taken on 8 November 1863. Her papers exposed the scheme whereby the Confederacy had secretly acquired ships in England. Eventually attaining the rank of lieutenant commander, Breck served until November of 1864 when a medical board invalided him out of the service. Seeking a climate conducive to his recovery, he moved to San Francisco, Calif., where he died on 26 July 1865.
Disposition:
Sold on 01/17/1931 to Boston Iron and Metal Co., Baltimore, MD. Scrapped.