USS Dai Ching
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Dai Ching |
Namesake | Previous name retained |
Builder | James C. Jewett & Co. |
Launched | 1863 |
Acquired | 21 April 1863 |
Commissioned | 11 June 1863 |
Fate | Burned 26 January 1865 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 520 tons |
Length | 170 ft 6 in (51.97 m) |
Beam | 29 ft 4 in (8.94 m) |
Draft | 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) |
Speed | 6 knots |
Complement | 83 officers and enlisted men |
Armament |
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USS Dai Ching was a steam gunboat in commissioned into service in the United States Navy in 1863. She served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War until her loss in 1865.
Construction, acquisition, and commissioning
During the later stages of the
The U.S. Navy purchased her for US$117,575 on 21 April 1863 for Civil War service. J. C. Chaplin in command.
Service history
Dai Ching joined in the search for the
Dai Ching joined an expedition up the St. Johns River in Florida, and she remained in that area from 6 February to 7 March 1864. She then returned to patrolling off the South Carolina coast and in January 1865 patrolled in the Combahee River. She captured the schooner Coquette, loaded with cotton, on 26 January 1865.
Later that same day, Dai Ching came under fire by a three-gun Confederate artillery battery while she was on the Combahee River headed for Tar Bluff. Her pilot left the wheel and went below when the shelling started, and she ran aground. As the tide fell, the vessel settled so only her 100-pounder (45.4-kg) Parrott rifle could return fire. The armed tug USS Clover attempted to pull her off, but the tow line parted, and Clover was unable to offer further assistance. The Parrott rifle was knocked out at 3:00 p.m. After seven hours of shelling, during which Dai Ching had taken thirty hits by shell and shot, with her guns disabled and machinery wrecked, her crew set her afire to prevent her capture by the Confederates and abandoned ship. Her crew escaped aboard Clover except for five who were absent from the ship on duty and who were later captured by the Confederates.[2]
The U.S. Navy removed the wreck of Dai Ching in 1906. A marsh island named Gunboat Island later formed in the river at the wreck site.[2]
References
- ^ ISBN 9789620703614.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8071-3274-6, pp. 144–145.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.