USS Tuscumbia (1862)
Tuscumbia circa 1863. USS Linden is behind her and a mortar boat is in front
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS Tuscumbia |
Builder | Joseph Brown, Cincinnati, Ohio |
Laid down | 1862 |
Launched | 2 December 1862 |
Commissioned | 12 March 1863 |
Decommissioned | February 1865 |
Fate | Sold, 29 November 1865 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Steam gunboat |
Displacement | 915 long tons (930 t) |
Length | 178 ft |
Beam | 75 ft |
Draft | 7 ft (2.1 m) |
Propulsion | 1 x shaft, 4 x steam engines |
Speed | 10 knots[1] |
Complement | 130 officers & men |
Armament |
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The first USS Tuscumbia was a gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the town of Tuscumbia, Alabama, which had been named for a Cherokee chief.
Tuscumbia was built in 1862 at
Service history
Tuscumbia assisted in the recapture of
In the spring and early summer of 1863, Tuscumbia performed valuable service during amphibious operations against
Tuscumbia was quickly repaired and fired upon the Vicksburg batteries on 19 May and 22 May. During the attack on the 22nd, Benton, Mound City, Carondelet, and Tuscumbia silenced three water batteries and destroyed four guns. Tuscumbia returned to the naval station at Memphis, Tennessee, for repairs in August but was laid up in November. She was repaired at Memphis in May 1864 and was assigned patrol duty between Cairo and the head of the Tennessee River.
After further repairs at Mound City, Illinois, in October, she was inactivated in February 1865.
Tuscumbia was sold at auction at Mound City to W. K. Adams on 29 November 1865.
See also
- Anaconda Plan
- Mississippi Squadron
References
- ^ Konstam, Angus, "Union River Ironclad 1861-1865", Osprey Publishing Oxford UK, page 41
- ^ Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 614.
Bibliography
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.