USS New London

History
United States
Launched	1859
Acquired	26 August 1861
Commissioned	29 October 1861
Decommissioned	3 August 1865
Fate	Sold, 8 September 1865
Notes	In merchant service until 1910
General characteristics
Displacement	221 tons
Length	125 ft (38 m)
Beam	25 ft (7.6 m)
Draft	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m)
Depth of hold	7 ft 8 in (2.34 m)
Propulsion	steam engine ; screw-propelled;
Speed	9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph)
Complement	47 officers and enlisted
Armament	one 20-pounder Parrott rifle ; four 32-pounder guns;

Last updated September 07, 2022

USS New London was a screw steamer of the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was outfitted with a Parrott rifle and 32-pounders, and was assigned as a gunboat in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.

Service history

New London was built at Mystic, Connecticut in 1859, purchased by the Navy at New York City on 26 August 1861; and commissioned at New York Navy Yard on 29 October 1861, with Lieutenant Abner Read in command. Ordered to the Gulf of Mexico on 2 November, New London, aided by USS R. R. Cuyler, captured the schooner Olive laden with lumber shortly before midnight on 21 November. Early the next morning, she took the steamboat Anna carrying turpentine and rosin from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to New Orleans, Louisiana. About dawn a week later, she took the steamboat Henry Lewis carrying sugar and molasses; and that afternoon she captured a schooner trying to slip through the blockade with naval stores for Havana, Cuba. On 28 November 1861 she captured USS A. J. View, which was later put into service in the U.S. Navy. New London captured the steamer Advocate on 1 December; and the schooner Delight with sloops Empress and Osceola on 9 December. On the 28th the schooner Gypsy became her prize.

Not content just to capture ships, New London, with USS Water Witch and Henry Lewis, rounded out her record on the last day of 1861 by sending a landing party ashore to capture Biloxi, Mississippi, destroying a Confederate battery and taking possession of two guns and the schooner Captain Spedden. On 20 February 1862 a boat expedition from New London landed on Cat Island, Mississippi and interned 12 small sloops and schooners suspected of being pilot boats for blockade runners. On 4 April, with USS John P. Jackson and USS Hatteras, New London engaged CSS Carondelet, CSS Pamlico, and CSS Oregon while Henry Lewis landed 1,200 Union Army troops at Pass Christian, Mississippi and destroyed a Confederate camp there. Boats from New London captured the yachts Comet and Algerine near New Basin, Louisiana on 2 June. On 17 June she captured and destroyed batteries at North and South passes.

On 18 July, accompanied by the Grey Cloud, the New London approached the large hotel at Pascagoula and announced its arrival by firing two shells over the hotel. Both steamers had been reinforced by men from the USS Potomac for this raid. The New London docked at the Hotel Wharf at Pascagoula, Mississippi, and deployed about 60 sailors and marines to the village to capture mails and confiscate the telegraph equipment. Sentries quickly spotted a Confederate cavalry patrol and the sailors and marines withdrew to their gunboats. The Grey Cloud moved about a half-mile west and attempted to enter the Pascagoula River with the intent on capturing local schooners with turpentine and lumber. However, the mouth of the river was obstructed to prevent passage. At this point the gunboats stood off shore and put in three launches loaded with about 25 sailors and marines each and proceeded up the river. About a mile from the mouth, where the river is not but 200 yards wide, the launches were ambushed by a platoon of 30 troopers of the Mobile Dragoons under Lieut Hallett, a cavalry unit armed with Sharps carbines. The launches returned fire, but where in the open and withdrew to the mouth of the river with eight or nine wounded. Once the launches were clear, the New London fired 25 shells into the village and the Grey Cloud fired seven shells; however, only one civilian was reported slightly wounded. After sitting off shore 19 July, the ships withdrew from the shoreline. Ref: Charleston Daily Courier, 29 July 1862

During the ensuing years New London served on blockade duty in the Gulf of Mexico, operating primarily off the Texas coast. She and USS Cayuga captured the British schooner Tampico off Sabine Pass, Texas, attempting to run out laden with cotton on 3 April 1863. On the 10th, while reconnoitering near Sabine City, a boat crew from New London captured a small sloop. Among the prisoners was Capt. Charles Fowler, CSN, who had commanded CSS Josiah Bell when the Confederate warship took USS Morning Light and USS Velocity in January. On 18 April, another boat expedition was surprised and driven off by Confederate troops. On 7 July, with USS Monongahela, New London engaged batteries below Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Three days later, while steaming to New Orleans, the ship engaged Confederate batteries at White Hall Point, Mississippi. Back off the Texas coast, she captured the schooner Raton del Nilo on 3 December.

New London continued to serve the West Gulf Blockading Squadron through the end of the Civil War. She sailed north on 12 July 1865 and decommissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, 3 August 1865. She was sold at public auction on 8 September 1865 to M. M. Comstock. Redocumented as Acushnet on 27 December 1865, she operated in merchant service until 1910.

Related Research Articles

CSS Oregon was a wooden sidewheel steamer that served as a gunboat in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Built in 1846 for the Mobile Mail Line, she transported mail between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, before the war. In 1861, she was seized by the Governor of Louisiana, Thomas Overton Moore, and served as a blockade runner before being selected for use by the Confederate Army. After transferring men and supplies to Ship Island, she was formally converted into a gunboat and armed with four cannon. Remaining behind on Lake Pontchartrain when many Confederate warships were transferred up the Mississippi River, Oregon served in the Mississippi Sound and Pass Christian areas. She took part in several minor actions involving USS New London, two of which resulted in the Confederates moving into shallow water to avoid close-range action, and the third ending when the Confederate ships abandoned the Pass Christian area. In April 1862, Union pressure confined her and other Confederate ships to Lake Pontchartrain. Later that month, with Union forces closing in on New Orleans, Oregon was sank as a blockship. Her wreck was removed and destroyed in the early 1870s.

USS Sciota was a Unadilla-class gunboat built on behalf of the United States Navy for service during the Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat, with both a 20-pounder rifle for horizontal firing, and two howitzers for shore bombardment, and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.

USS South Carolina was a steamer used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

USS Albatross was a screw steamer rigged as a three-masted schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat with heavy guns and used in the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.

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.

USS Kennebec was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for the U.S. Navy following the outbreak of the American Civil War. She was named for the Kennebec River.

USS John P. Jackson (1860) was a steamship acquired by the United States Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War. She was assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. as well as the bombardment of Mississippi River ports.

USS Owasco was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for Owasco Lake.

The second Navy vessel to bear the name Sachem, this screw steamer was built in 1844 at New York City, where it was purchased by the Navy on 20 September 1861.

USS Sagamore was a Unadilla-class gunboat built on behalf of the United States Navy for service during the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. Sagamore was very active during the war, and served the Union both as a patrol ship and a bombardment vessel.

USS Octorara 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.

USS <i>Calhoun</i> (1851) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Calhoun was a captured Confederate steamer and blockade runner acquired by the Union Navy from the prize court during the American Civil War.

USS Massachusetts was a large steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy prior to the American Civil War.

USS Matthew Vassar was a schooner purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy primarily as a mortar gunboat, but also as a gunboat stationed off Confederate ports to prevent their trading with foreign countries.

USS Tahoma was a Unadilla-class gunboat built by order of the United States Navy for service during the American Civil War.

USS Kinsman, sometimes called USS Colonel Kinsman, was a sidewheel steamer captured by the Union Army during the American Civil War. She was used by the Army and then by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways. On 23 February 1863, she hit a snag and sank.

USS Sumter was a 525-ton sidewheel paddle steamer captured by the Union Navy during the Union blockade of the American Civil War.

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

The third USS Virginia was a 581-ton blockade-running steamer captured by the United States Navy and put to use by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Virginia served the U.S. Navy primarily as a mortar gunboat. Her ordnance included six 24-pounder howitzers and a 12-pounder rifled gun.

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.

References

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.