USS Housatonic (1861)
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Housatonic |
Namesake | The Housatonic River |
Builder | Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts |
Launched | 20 November 1861 |
Sponsored by | Miss Jane Coffin Colby and Miss Susan Paters Hudson |
Commissioned | 29 August 1862 |
Fate | Sunk 17 February 1864 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Screw sloop |
Displacement | 1,240 long tons (1,260 t) |
Length | 205 ft (62 m) |
Beam | 38 ft (12 m) |
Draft | 8 ft 7 in (2.62 m) |
Propulsion | Sail and steam |
Speed | 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
Complement | 160 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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USS Housatonic was a screw sloop-of-war of the United States Navy, gaining its namesake from the Housatonic River of New England.
Housatonic was
Service history
Blockading Charleston
Housatonic departed Boston on 11 September and arrived at
Capture of Princess Royal and Confederate counter-attack
On 29 January 1863, her boats, aided by those of USS Augusta, USS G. W. Blunt, and USS America, boarded and refloated the iron steamer Princess Royal. The gunboat Unadilla had driven the blockade runner ashore as she attempted to slip into Charleston from England with a cargo consisting of two marine engines destined for Confederate ironclads and a large quantity of ordnance and ammunition. These imports were of such great potential value to the South that they have been called "the war's most important single cargo of contraband."
It is possibly in the hope of recovering this invaluable prize that the Confederate ironclad rams CSS Chicora and CSS Palmetto State slipped out of the main ship channel of Charleston Harbor to attack the Union blockading fleet in the early morning fog two days later. They rammed Mercedita, forcing her to strike her colors "in a sinking and perfectly defenseless condition", and moved on to cripple Keystone State. Gunfire from the rams also damaged Quaker City and Augusta before the Confederate ships withdrew under fire from Housatonic to the protection of shore batteries.
Capture of Georgiana
On 19 March 1863, Housatonic and
Further captures, and attacks on Charleston
Housatonic captured the sloop Neptune on 19 April as she attempted to run out of Charleston with a cargo of cotton and turpentine. She was credited with assisting in the capture of the steamer Seesh on 15 May. Howitzers mounted in Housatonic's boats joined in the attack on Fort Wagner on 10 July, which began the continuing bombardment of the Southern works at Charleston. In ensuing months her crew repeatedly deployed boats which shelled the shoreline, patrolled close ashore gathering valuable information, and landed troops for raids against the outer defenses of Charleston. On Sept 9th, 1863 Charles W. Pickering, Captain of the USS Housatonic, would submit a report to Rear Admiral Dahlgren concerning the men of his command who were involved in the attack on Fort Sumter of the evening prior. He would list men of the 4th cutter- Lieut Edwin T. Brower, commanding. Among the 17 men of Cutter Four was Frederic Augustus James - the report ends with "All the above, with the boat, are missing."[2]
Sunk in the first submarine attack
At just before 9pm, 17 February 1864, Housatonic, commanded by
The wreck of Housatonic was largely scrapped in the 1870s–1890s and her location was eventually removed from coastal navigation charts and lost to history. The anchor of Housatonic can be found at the office of Wild Dunes on the Isle of Palms.
See also
- List of sailing frigates of the United States Navy
- Bibliography of early United States naval history
References
- ^ "The Sinking of the USS Housatonic by the Submarine CSS H.L. Hunley, off Charleston, South Carolina, 17 February 1864". Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ Frederic Augustus James's Civil War Diary-Sumter to Andersonville, Edited by Jefferson J. Hammer, 1973
- ^ Hicks, Brian (January 2014). "One-Way Mission of the H. L. Hunley". U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion Series I – Vol. 15, p. 328
- ^ Brian Hicks, Hunley legend altered by new discovery, The Post and Courier, 28 January 2013, accessed 28 January 2013.
- ^ "Confederate sub's weapon killed its own crew, researchers find, 24 August 2017". Ars Technica. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.