USS Crusader (1858)

Last updated

USS Crusader (1858).jpg
History
US flag 36 stars.svgUnited States
Orderedas Chowan [1]
LaunchedMay 1857 [1]
AcquiredOctober 1858 by the U.S. Navy
Commissioned27 October 1858 [1] [2]
Decommissioned13 June 1865 at the Washington Navy Yard [2]
RenamedSouthern Star, Crusader [1]
FateSold, 20 July 1865 [2]
General characteristics
Displacement545 tons [2]
Length169 ft (52 m) [2]
Beam28 ft (8.5 m) [2]
Draft12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) [2]
Propulsion
Speed8 knots (15 km/h) [2]
Complement92 [2]
Armament
  • four 32-pounder guns
  • eight 24-pounder guns
  • one 12-pounder gun [2]

USS Crusader was a screw steamer of the United States Navy that served prior to, and during, the American Civil War.

Contents

Crusader was heavily armed and was used in a "gunboat diplomacy" role when the United States needed to place political pressure on Paraguay. After completing that mission, she returned to the United States to participate as a gunboat in the blockade of the Confederate States of America.

Service history

Originally named Chowan the ship was launched in 1857 in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. Four months later, its draftsman and builder, John K. Kirkham filed papers at the Hertford County Court for a lien for payment of $4,996 owed to him by the North Carolina and New York Steamship Company. She was seized by Sheriff John A. Vann. In February 1858, a jury awarded $2,287.36 to Kirkham and the court ordered that the ship be sold at auction on 4 May. [1] Chowan was purchased by John W. Southall and Capt. Thomas W. Badger and renamed Southern Star. In early 1858 she was towed to Delaware where she was fitted with engines. She then steamed to Norfolk in September 1858 under her own power for final outfitting for hauling freight between the West Indies and ports along the east coast of North America. [1]

US Navy service

The US Navy approached its owners and chartered the vessel in October 1858 to be part of a 19 ship squadron military-diplomatic expedition to Paraguay to settle grievances growing out of an unprovoked attack on Water Witch by Paraguayan forces in 1855. [2] Commissioned 27 October 1858, Commander A. M. Pennock in command, Southern Star sailed 2 November for Asunción, Paraguay, arriving 25 January 1859. [2] Her mission accomplished, she departed from Montevideo, Uruguay, 22 March [2] to return to Norfolk's Gosport Navy Yard. Satisfied with her performance, she was purchased by the Navy for $49,000 and renamed Crusader. She was outfitted as a gunboat at Gosport with four 12-pound cannons and numerous lighter arms. [1]

On 11 June 1859, Lieutenant John N. Maffitt was assigned as her first commanding officer as Crusader. [3] She left the Brooklyn Navy Yard for naval service in August 1859. [1] Crusader cleared Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 7 October 1859 for duty with the Home Squadron in the suppression of the slave trade in West Indian waters until 7 February 1861, returning to New York City 16 February. [2] She made national headlines when on 23 May 1860 she intercepted a slave ship carrying 450 Africans, [3] the first of the four slave traders and one pirate ship she apprehended. [1]

Following another tour of duty in the Gulf of Mexico from 16 March to 28 August 1861, during which she captured two vessels to prevent their sale for use as Confederate privateers, she was placed out of commission 17 September 1861 for repairs. Crusader sailed 18 January 1862 to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. She cruised off the South Carolina coast until 10 August. With E. B. Hale she conducted a successful expedition up the South Edisto River on 28 April to capture a Confederate battery, the officers and men of both ships earning a commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for their courageous conduct. On a similar raid Crusader and Planter drove off a band of Confederates from Simmons' Bluff and destroyed their camp on 21 June. [2]

After repairs at New York, Crusader put to sea 22 September 1862 to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. She was diverted to duty in the Chesapeake Bay and inland waters of Virginia and served in this area until the end of the war. She captured five vessels with valuable cargoes and destroyed four others. [2] Crusader was decommissioned at Washington Navy Yard 13 June 1865 and sold there 20 July 1865. [2]

Related Research Articles

The third USS Dolphin was the brig in the United States Navy. Her plans were the basis of other brigs of that time. She was named for the aquatic mammal.

USS <i>Pawnee</i> (1859) Gunboat of the United States Navy

The first USS Pawnee was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the Pawnee Indian tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Newland Maffitt (privateer)</span> Officer in the Confederate States Navy

John Newland Maffitt was an officer in the Confederate States Navy who was nicknamed the "Prince of Privateers" due to his success as a blockade runner and commerce raider in the U.S. Civil War.

USS <i>St. Lawrence</i> Frigate of the United States Navy, launched 1848

USS St. Lawrence was a frigate in the United States Navy that saw service during the mid-19th century, including the American Civil War. She was based on the same plans as USS Brandywine.

USS <i>Wabash</i> (1855) Gunboat of the United States Navy

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 Release was a bark-rigged sailing vessel in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

USS Sumpter was a steamship in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

USS <i>Water Witch</i> (1851) US Navy gunboat

The third USS Water Witch was a wooden-hulled, sidewheel gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She is best known as the ship fired on by Paraguay in 1855. In 1864 she was captured by the Confederate States Navy, and subsequently was taken into that Navy as CSS Water Witch.

USS <i>Pocahontas</i> (1852) Gunboat of the United States Navy

The first USS Pocahontas, a screw steamer built at Medford, Massachusetts in 1852 as City of Boston, and purchased by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts on 20 March 1855, was the first United States Navy ship to be named for Pocahontas, the Algonquian wife of Virginia colonist John Rolfe. She was originally commissioned as USS Despatch – the second U.S. Navy ship of that name – on 17 January 1856, with Lieutenant T. M. Crossan in command, and was recommissioned and renamed in 1860, seeing action in the American Civil War. As Pocahontas, one of her junior officers was Alfred Thayer Mahan, who would later achieve international fame as a military writer and theorist of naval power.

USS <i>Wilderness</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Wilderness was a wooden-hulled, side-wheel steamship in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. After the war, she served as a revenue cutter. In 1873, she was renamed John A. Dix for former Secretary of the Treasury John Adams Dix.

USS <i>Unadilla</i> (1861) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Unadilla was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for service with the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was the lead ship in her class.

USS <i>Valley City</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Valley City was a 190-ton steamer acquired by the Union Navy for service in the American Civil War.

USS <i>Underwriter</i> (1852) Steamer gunboat (in service 1861–1864)

USS Underwriter was a 341-ton sidewheel steamer that was purchased for military use by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

USS Western World was a ship 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 <i>Wanderer</i> (1857) Gunboat of the United States Navy

The first USS Wanderer was a high-speed schooner originally built for pleasure. It was used in 1858 to illegally import slaves from Africa. It was seized for service with the United States Navy during the American Civil War. In U.S. Navy service from 1861 to 1865, and under outright U.S. Navy ownership from 1863 to 1865, she was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat, as a tender, and as a hospital ship. She was decommissioned, put into merchant use, and lost off Cuba in 1871.

USS Mystic was a steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy prior to the American Civil War when she was known as the USS Memphis and served in the Paraguay expedition of 1858 and 1859. 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.

USS Wyandotte, originally USS Western Port, was a steamer acquired by the Navy as a gunboat for the Paraguay expedition in 1858. When the crisis of the American Civil War occurred, she operated in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

USS Henry Brinker was a small steamship acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was placed into service as a gunboat and assigned to the blockade of ports of the Confederate States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles C. Carpenter (admiral)</span> United States admiral

Rear Admiral Charles Carroll Carpenter was an officer in the United States Navy. He participated in the African Slave Trade Patrol, fought in the American Civil War, served as commander of the Asiatic Squadron, and was recalled to duty briefly during the Spanish–American War.

Commodore Jonathan Young was an officer in the United States Navy. He participated in anti-piracy actions and the African Slave Trade Patrol, fought in the Mexican War, Puget Sound War, and American Civil War, and served briefly as commander of the Asiatic Squadron.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Dr. Thomas C., Parramore (1998). Trial Separation: Murfreesboro, North Carolina and the Civil War. Murfreesboro, North Carolina: Murfreesboro Historical Association, Inc. pp. 25–27. LCCN   00503566.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Crusader" . Retrieved 17 January 2008.
  3. 1 2 Maffitt, Emma Martin (1906). The Life and Services of John Newland Maffitt. New York and Washington: The Neale Publishing Company. pp.  206–208.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.