History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Namesake | Cherokee Tribe |
Laid down | 1859 |
Acquired | 1864 |
Commissioned | April 1864 |
Decommissioned | 1865 |
Renamed | Ancud |
Fate | Wrecked 1889 |
Chile | |
Name | Ancud |
Namesake | Ship Ancud (1843) |
Operator | Chilean Navy |
Commissioned | 1865 |
Decommissioned | 1878 |
Fate | Sunk near Chiloé, on 25 August 1889 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 606 ton |
Length | 194.5 ft (59.3 m) |
Beam | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
Draught | 11.5 ft (3.5 m) |
Speed | 13 kt |
Complement | 92 |
Armour | 2 × 20-pdr. r., 4 × 24-pdr. sb. |
The USS Cherokee was a 606-ton screw steam gunboat in the US Navy during the American Civil War ship. The ship later served in the Chilean Navy.
The steamer Thistle was launched on 2 July 1859 by Laurence Hill & Company at Port Glasgow, Scotland, for passenger and cargo service between Glasgow and Derry. [1] [2] She entered service for the Glasgow & Londonderry Steam Packet Company on 30 August. She was a composite-hulled (wood planking on iron frames) steamship, measured at 386 GRT and 206 NRT, and with dimensions of 184.5 ft (56.2 m) length, 25.2 ft (7.7 m) beam and 12.5 ft (3.8 m) depth of hold. [3] Thistle's single-screw was powered by a two-cylinder geared beam engine of 150 NHP made by A. & J. Inglis of Glasgow, and which achieved a speed of 14 knots in trials on 29 August. [2] [4]
Under the name Thistle she was used as a blockade runner and in late January 1863 successfully ran through the Federal blockade into Charleston, South Carolina, a favorite port for blockade runners at the time. She ran aground while attempting to leave port a month later. The ship was salvaged, sold to another owner and renamed Cherokee. On 8 May 1863, she again attempted to an outbound passage, but was captured by USS Canandaigua. Prior to delivery to the Boston Prize Court on 7 July, she was used in the search for the Confederate raider
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After condemnation, Cherokee was purchased by the Government, outfitted at Boston Navy Yard, and commissioned 21 April 1864, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant J. F. Nickels in command.
Cherokee sailed from Boston 11 May 1864, bound for duty off the coast of North Carolina with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In addition to contributing to Union victory by cutting the Confederacy off from overseas sources of supply, this squadron repeatedly bombarded coastal defenses, and cooperated with the Army in amphibious expeditions up the many bays, inlets, and rivers of the serrated coast.
Cherokee's operations included the capture of blockade runner Emma Henry 8 December 1864, and bombardments at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in December and January 1865. She participated in the two assaults that finally captured Fort Fisher, thus closing the port of Wilmington, N.C., to blockade-running.
On 30 January she was ordered close inshore at New Inlet to reconnoiter the Half Moon Battery, where she discovered a large party of Confederates approaching the fortifications recently secured by Union troops. Cherokee threw heavy fire ashore, which drove the Confederates away after three determined rushes at the Union lines.
In February 1865, Cherokee joined the East Gulf Blockading Squadron, and patrolled against blockade runners between Key West and Havana until the close of the war. Cherokee was sent north after the conclusion of the Civil War and was decommissioned at Boston 23 June 1865, and sold there 1 August 1865.
In 1866 Cherokee returned to civilian trades. In 1868 the steamer was sold to the Chilean Government. She served Chile's Navy for a decade under the name Ancud and spent another decade as a merchant vessel. The former Cherokee sunk off Chiloé Island, Chile, on 25 August 1889.
USS Advance, the second United States Navy ship to be so named, was later known as USS Frolic, and was originally the blockade runner Advance captured by the Union Navy during the latter part of the American Civil War. She was purchased by the Union Navy and outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She also served as dispatch ship and supply vessel when military action eventually slowed.
Princess Royal was a British merchant ship and blockade runner that became a cruiser in the Union Navy during the American Civil War and later returned to civilian service.
CSS Robert E. Lee was a fast paddle-steamer, originally built as a Glasgow-Belfast packet boat named Giraffe, which was bought as a blockade runner for the Confederate States during the American Civil War, then subsequently served in the United States Navy as USS Fort Donelson and in the Chilean Navy as Concepción.
USS Wabash was a steam screw frigate of the United States Navy that served during the American Civil War. She was based on the same plans as Colorado. Post-war she continued to serve her country in European operations and eventually served as a barracks ship in Boston, Massachusetts, and was sold in 1912.
USS Fort Jackson was a wooden sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was successful in enforcing the Union blockade of Confederate ports, capturing five ships carrying contraband. She participated in the battles for Fort Fisher, which effectively closed the port of Wilmington, North Carolina to the Confederacy. Most notably, the surrender of Confederate forces in Texas was signed aboard the ship, formally ending the Civil War in that portion of the country.
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The first USS Monticello was a wooden screw-steamer in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the home of Thomas Jefferson. She was briefly named Star in May 1861.
The first USS Seminole was a steam sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.
USS Niphon was a steam operated vessel 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 Cambridge was a heavy steamship purchased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War.
USS Huron was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War for blockage duty against the ports and rivers of the Confederate States of America.
The USS Eolus was a 368-ton side wheel steamship that served in the Union Navy from 1864 to 1865 before becoming a commercial steamship.
The first USS Dawn was a steam-operated vessel 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 Tristram Shandy was a 444-ton steamer and blockade runner captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Massachusetts was a large steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy prior to the American Civil War.
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 Gertrude was the British blockade-running steamship Gertrude captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was placed in service by the Navy as a gunboat and assigned to patrol the southern coast of the United States for ships attempting to run the Union blockade of Southern ports. She was later the American merchant ship Gussie Telfair until wrecked in 1880.
USS Thunder was a blockade running steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
During the American Civil War, blockade runners were used to get supplies through the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America that extended some 3,500 miles (5,600 km) along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. The Confederacy had little industrial capability and could not indigenously produce the quantity of arms and other supplies needed to fight against the Union. To meet this need, numerous blockade runners were constructed in the British Isles and were used to import the guns, ordnance and other supplies that the Confederacy desperately needed, in exchange for cotton that the British textile industry needed greatly. To penetrate the blockade, these relatively lightweight shallow draft ships, mostly built in British shipyards and specially designed for speed, but not suited for transporting large quantities of cotton, had to cruise undetected, usually at night, through the Union blockade. The typical blockade runners were privately owned vessels often operating with a letter of marque issued by the Confederate government. If spotted, the blockade runners would attempt to outmaneuver or simply outrun any Union Navy warships on blockade patrol, often successfully.