The first USSSassacus, a wooden, double-ended, side-wheel steamer, was launched on 23 December 1862 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, sponsored by Miss Wilhelmina G. Lambert. Sassacus was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 5 October 1863, Lieutenant Commander Francis A. Roe in command.
USS James Adger was a sidewheel steamer in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She retained her former name.
The second USS Louisiana was a propeller-driven iron-hull steamer in the United States 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.
USS Kansas (1863) was a gunboat constructed for the Union Navy during the middle of the American Civil War. She was outfitted with heavy guns and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named Kansas and was the first of a class of 836-ton screw steam gunboats. At war's end, she continued serving her country by performing survey work and defending American interests in Cuba until sold in 1883.
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 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 Aries (1863) was an 820-ton iron screw steamer built at Sunderland, England, during 1861–1862, intended for employment as a blockade runner during the American Civil War. She was captured by Union Navy forces during the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America, and was commissioned as a Union gunboat. Aries was named for the constellation.
USS Maratanza (1862) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS Howquah was a screw steamer purchased by the Union Navy in Boston from G. W. Upton on 17 June 1863, for action against Confederate commerce raider CSS Tacony which was then preying upon Northern merchantmen during what Professor Richard S. West has called "the most brilliant daredevil cruise of the 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 Genesee (1862) was a steamer 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 Iron Age (1862) was a steamer 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 Confederates from trading with other countries. Iron Age was built at Kennebunk, Maine, in 1862; then purchased by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts, 28 April 1863 and commissioned 25 June 1863, Lt. Comdr. E. E. Stone in command.
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 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.
USS Bat (1864) was a steamer captured by 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. She was also later assigned to carry President Abraham Lincoln to Richmond, Virginia.
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.
USS Philippi (1863) was a blockade runner captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She served the Union Navy’s struggle against the Confederate States of America as a picket, patrol and dispatch vessel.
USS Preston (1864) was a blockade-running steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
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 likewise was in desperate need of. To get through 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, very often successfully.
United States
