Capture of the blockade runner Emma, 1863. | |
History | |
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United States | |
Builder | Barclay Curle [1] |
Laid down | date unknown |
Launched | 24 November 1862 [1] |
Acquired | 30 September 1863 |
Commissioned | 4 November 1863 |
Decommissioned | 30 August 1865 |
Stricken | 1865 (est.) |
Captured |
|
Fate | sold, 1 November 1865 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 350 tons |
Length | 156 ft (48 m) |
Beam | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
Draught | 9 ft 4 in (2.84 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 12 knots |
Complement | 68 [1] |
Armament |
|
The first USS Emma was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a picket and patrol vessel on Confederate waterways.
Emma, a single screw steamer, was built in Glasgow, Scotland [1] [3] for Thomas S. Begbie. Emma and her sister ship, Gertrude were named for Begbie's two daughters. [2] Emma was captured on 24 July 1863 by the Army transport SS Arago off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina on its third voyage. [3] Purchased by the Navy from the New York City prize court on 30 September 1863; it was fitted out at New York Navy Yard; and put to sea on 4 November 1863, Acting Master G. B. Livingston in command. [3] [4]
Emma arrived at Newport News, Virginia, 7 November 1863 to patrol with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron until the end of the war. Enforcing the blockade, she played a significant role in the Navy's indispensable contribution to victory through isolating the South from oversea sources of supply. Emma joined in the destruction of blockade runner Ella off Wilmington, North Carolina, 6 December 1864, and the attacks on Fort Fisher of 24 and 25 December 1864 and 13 to 15 January 1865. [4]
On 26 April 1865, Emma sailed from Fort Caswell, North Carolina, with an urgent message from General William Tecumseh Sherman to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, commanding the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which warned the Admiral that Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet, not yet located, might attempt to escape by way of Florida to Cuba. Emma put into Key West, Florida, on this cruise, then returned to patrol the Carolina coast until 24 August, when she arrived at Boston, Massachusetts. [4]
In Boston, Emma was decommissioned 30 August 1865 and sold 1 November 1865. [4]
She was placed back in service as a merchant steamer, operated as the SS Gaspe, from 1866 [1] until her sinking near Miquelon Island on 14 June 1872. [5]
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.
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.
USSKeystone State was a wooden sidewheel steamer that served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
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.
The second USS Memphis was a 7-gun screw steamer, built by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1861, which briefly served as a Confederate blockade runner before being captured and taken into the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was destroyed by fire in 1883.
The first USS Nereus, a screw steamer built at New York in 1863, was purchased by the Union Navy from William P. Williams on 5 October 1863; and commissioned at New York Navy Yard 19 April 1864, Commander John C. Howell in command.
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 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.
USS Alabama was a 1,261 long tons (1,281 t) wooden side-wheel steamer, built at New York City in 1850 and operated thereafter in commercial service in the western Atlantic.
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.
USS Grand Gulf (1863) was a wooden-hulled, propeller-driven steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was effective in performing blockade duty, and captured a number of Confederate blockade runners.
USS Tristram Shandy (1864) was a 444-ton steamer and blockade runner captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
The first USS Calypso was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Britannia (1862) was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat and patrol vessel 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 Victoria (1855) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Gertrude (1863) 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.
The blockade runners of the American Civil War were seagoing steam ships that were used to get through the Union blockade that extended some 3,500 miles (5,600 km) along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. The Confederate states were largely without industrial capability and could not provide the quantity of arms and other supplies needed to fight against the industrial north. To meet this need blockade runners were built in Scotland and England 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 ship yards and specially designed for speed but incapable of carrying much 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 States of America. If spotted, the blockade runners would attempt to outmaneuver or simply outrun any Union ships on blockade patrol, often successfully.
John Cummings Howell was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and late in his career was commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic Squadron and then of the European Squadron.
Gustavus Hall Scott was an officer in the United States Navy who served in the Second Seminole War and the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and late in his career was commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic Squadron.