History | |
---|---|
Ordered: | as Christiana |
Laid down: | date unknown |
Launched: | 1864 |
Acquired: | 1 July 1864 |
Commissioned: | 12 July 1864 |
Decommissioned: | 19 August 1865 |
Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
Fate: | Sold, 5 September 1865 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement: | 182 tons |
Length: | 117 ft (36 m) |
Beam: | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
Draft: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
Depth of hold: | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
Propulsion: |
|
Speed: | 9.5 knots |
Complement: | 40 |
Armament: | three 24-pounder smoothbore guns |
USS Amaranthus was a screw steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a tugboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
Amaranthus a wooden-hulled screw tug built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1864 by Bishop, Son, and Company—was purchased by the Navy there as Christiana on 1 July 1864. Renamed Amaranthus and fitted out at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, she was commissioned on 12 July 1864, Acting Master Enos O. Adams in command.
The Secretary of the Navy assigned the tug to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron; but she was kept in the Delaware River performing towing duties, and did not join her squadron until she reached Port Royal, South Carolina, on 6 August. She was assigned to the inner cordon of the forces blockading Charleston, South Carolina; but for occasional runs back to Port Royal to carry passengers and dispatches and to receive repairs, she served off that port through the end of the Civil War.
On the night of 9 and 10 September, she sighted a steamer attempting to run out of Charleston and fired repeatedly at the blockade runner which, nevertheless, escaped to sea. Some two-and-one-half months later, she fired upon two incoming steamers which entered the harbor about two hours apart. On both occasions, Confederate shore batteries at Fort Moultrie fired upon the Union blockaders; a spent 10-inch shell struck Amaranthus'starboard counter, damaging the tug sufficiently to require her to enter a nearby inlet for repairs. The patching was quickly completed, and the steamer was back on station three days later.
On 1 February 1865, Acting Ensign William R. Cox, the tug's executive officer, assumed command. Following the collapse of the Confederacy early in the spring of 1865, Amaranthus remained off Charleston into the summer.
She departed that port on 10 August and entered the New York Navy Yard on 18 August. Decommissioned there the following day, the tug was sold at public auction on 5 September. She was documented under her original name on 28 December 1865 and served as the merchant tug Christiana until 1900.
USS Acacia was a steam-powered tugboat in the service of the United States Navy during the American Civil War, named after the Acacia tree.
USS Stars and Stripes (1861) was a 407-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War.
USS Home (1862) was a large steamship purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was placed into service as a hospital ship assigned to support the fleet blockading the ports of the Confederate States of America.
USS Chenango was a side-wheel steamer in the service of the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Potomska was a wooden screw steamer rigged as a three masted schooner purchased at New York City from H. Haldrege on 25 September 1861. She was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 20 December 1861.
USS Young America (1855) was a Confederate steamer captured by the Union Navy’s blockade vessels, and subsequently placed in-service in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Berberry (1864) was a steam-powered tugboat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS Laburnum (1864) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a tugboat and dispatch boat to serve Union ships on blockade duty.
USS Larkspur (1863) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a tugboat.
USS Camelia (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was armed as a gunboat by the Navy and assigned to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS Belle (1864) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Mary Sanford (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Alpha (1864) was a side wheel paddle steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
The first USS Anemone was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a tugboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Azalea (1864) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as an armed tugboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Sweet Brier (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Wamsutta (1853) was a steamer constructed for service with the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
The first USS Wando was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. In commission from 1864 to 1865, she was used by the United States Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Hydrangea (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She served the Navy in various ways: as a tugboat, a dispatch boat, a ship's tender, and as a gunboat in waterways of the Confederate States of America.
The third USS Union was a heavy (1,114-ton) steamer with a powerful 12-inch rifled gun purchased by the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.