USS Sciota (1861)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Sciota.
USS Sciota (2nd ship from left)
History
Union Navy Jack United States
NameUSS Sciota
BuilderJacob Birely (Philadelphia)
Cost$96,000
Launched15 Oct 1861
Commissioned15 Dec 1861
FateStruck mine and sank, 14 Apr 1865; salvaged; sold 25 Oct 1865
General characteristics
Class and typeUnadilla-class gunboat
Displacement691 tons
Tons burthen507
Length158 ft (48 m) (waterline)
Beam28 ft (8.5 m)
Draft9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) (max.)
Depth of hold12 ft (3.7 m)
Propulsion2 × 200
IHP 30-in bore by 18 in stroke horizontal back-acting
engines; single screw
Sail planTwo-masted schooner
Speed10 kn (11.5 mph)
Complement114
Armament

USS Sciota was a

howitzers for shore bombardment, and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America
.

Commissioned in Philadelphia in 1861

The first

Philadelphia Navy Yard
on 15 December 1861.

Civil War service

Assigned to the Gulf Blockade

Aboard the Sciota

The new screw gunboat was assigned to the

Ship Island, Mississippi, on the afternoon of 8 January 1862. On 6 February, she captured blockade runner, Margaret, off Isle of Breton, Louisiana, as the sloop was attempting to escape to sea laden with cotton
.

When

West Gulf Blockading Squadron which had been created to wrest New Orleans
from Southern hands.

During the first weeks in April, Sciota, supported Farragut's efforts to get his deep draft ships across the bar off Pass a L'Outre and into the Mississippi River. During this period, she also steamed up the river gathering information about Southern defenses.

Bombarding Mississippi River forts

On the 18th, the ships of Farragut's fleet took position close to

Fort Jackson. Sciota bombarded these forts, and she continued to duel with the Confederate
guns intermittently for the next six days.

In the early morning darkness of the 24th, Sciota got underway with the fleet and dashed up river past the forts. After New Orleans, surrendered, Sciota operated up the river with Farragut. She attacked and passed the Confederate forts at Vicksburg, Mississippi on 28 June when Farragut raced by that riverside stronghold to join Flag Officer Charles H. Davis' Western flotilla.

Since the Army was unable to provide the troops necessary for joint operations against Vicksburg, Farragut decided to return down river to turn his attention to the blockade in the western gulf. Sciota again ran the gauntlet past the Southern batteries.

The gunboat continued operations on the Mississippi below Vicksburg for much of the remainder of the year. She engaged Southern batteries at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, on 4 October.

Gulf of Mexico operations

On 3 January 1863, Farragut ordered gunboats, Sciota,

Owasco, and Katahdin
on the Confederate batteries at Galveston. They learned that the Southern guns were capable of firing past the Union squadron-more than two and one-half miles.

After the engagement, Sciota continued to operate in the Gulf of Mexico, bolstering the still leaky blockade in the area. On 14 July 1863, she collided with the Union steamer, Antona, in the Mississippi River about eight miles above Quarantine and sank. However, she was raised late in August and taken to New Orleans to be refitted.

Returned to operations after having been sunk

The ship returned to blockade duty off the

Granite City made a reconnaissance from Pass Cavallo, and landed soldiers on the gulf shore of Matagorda Peninsula
in action continuing through 1 January 1864.

While Granite City covered the troops ashore from attacks by Confederate cavalry, Sciota reconnoitered the mouth of the

Estrella
to assist. Confederate gunboat, John F. Carr, closed and fired on the Union troops,

making some very good hits ...

but was driven ashore by a severe gale and destroyed by fire. The Union troops were withdrawn on board ship. Reporting on the operation, Lt. Col. Frank S. Hasseltine wrote:

Captain Perkins, of the Sciota, excited my admiration by the daring manner in which he exposed his ship through the night in the surf till it broke all about him, that he might, close to us, lend the moral force of his ... guns ... and by his gallantry in bringing us off during the gale.

On 21 January 1864, Sciota and Granite City joined several hundred troops in a reconnaissance of the Texas coast. They covered the troops at Smith's Landing, Texas, and the subsequent foray down the Matagorda Peninsula.

On 4 April, Sciota captured the schooner Mary Sorly attempting to run the blockade at Galveston with a cargo of cotton. She had previously been United States Revenue Cutter, Dodge, seized by the Confederates at Galveston at the war's outbreak.

Sciota continued operations on the Texas coast through the summer. On 13 September, she came across a large quantity of cotton afloat at sea, picked up 83 bales, and sent them to New Orleans. On 27 October, she captured Prussian schooner, Pancha Larispa, attempting to run through the blockade into either Velasco or San Luis Pass, Texas. The next day, she took Cora Smyser while that British schooner vainly attempted the same feat.

Sunk while clearing mines

In November, Sciota was ordered to Pensacola, Florida for repairs. In January 1865, she steamed to Mobile Bay to help clear torpedoes from the waters there. On 14 April, the day of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, she struck a torpedo and sank off Mobile, Alabama. Her commanding officer, Acting Lieutenant James W. Magune, reported:

The explosion was terrible, breaking the beams of the spar deck, tearing open the waterways, ripping off starboard forechannels, and breaking fore-topmast.

Hulk raised and sold

Early in July, she was raised. Her hulk was sold at

public auction at New York City
on 25 October 1865.

References

  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  • *"USS Sciota (1861-1865)". Online Image Library.
    Naval Historical Center
    . 9 September 2001. Retrieved 2008-01-30.

External links

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