History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | USS Niphon |
Laid down | Date unknown |
Launched | February 1863 |
Acquired | 22 April 1863 |
Commissioned | 24 April 1863 |
Decommissioned | 1 December 1864 |
Stricken | 1865 (est.) |
Fate | Sold, 17 April 1865 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement | 475 long tons (483 t) |
Length | 153 ft 2 in (46.69 m) |
Beam | 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m) |
Draft | 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) |
Depth of hold | 17 ft 3 in (5.26 m) |
Propulsion | steam engine, screw |
Speed | 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph) |
Complement | 70 |
Armament |
|
Armor | Wood and iron |
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.
Niphon, a wooden and iron screw steamer launched at Boston, Massachusetts, in February 1863, delivered to the Navy at Boston on 22 April 1863; and commissioned at Boston Navy Yard on 24 April 1863, Acting Ensign Joseph B. Breck in command; and was formally purchased 9 May 1863.
Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Niphon was first stationed off Fort Fisher, North Carolina, which protected Wilmington, North Carolina, from attack by sea. She captured the blockade runner Banshee at New Inlet, North Carolina on 29 July 1863. On 18 August she chased the steamer Hebe, carrying drugs, clothing, coffee, and provisions for the Confederacy, and forced the blockade runner aground north of Fort Fisher where she was abandoned. The boats from Niphon were sent to destroy Hebe, but were swamped in heavy seas and their crews captured. Then USS Shokoken opened fire on Hebe and she was burned to the waterline.
With USS James Adger, Niphon captured the steamer Cornubia north of New Inlet on 8 November. Cornubia’s papers exposed the whole scheme by which the Confederacy had clandestinely obtained ships in England. The next day Niphon captured the blockade runner Ella and Annie off Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina, attempting to slip in with a cargo of arms and provisions. Trying to escape, the runner rammed Niphon but surrendered to Federal bluejackets who boarded her when the ships had swung broadside. Ella and Annie was later commissioned in the Union Navy as USS Malvern.
After capturing Ella and Annie, Niphon returned to Boston for repairs, but was back off New Inlet on 6 February 1864. On 21 April, Niphon, USS Howquah, and USS Fort Jackson destroyed the salt works at Masonboro Sound, North Carolina. On 27 August, Niphon and USS Monticello ventured up Masonboro Inlet to silence a Confederate battery. Landing parties from the ships captured arms, ammunition, and food stuffs. A boat expedition from Niphon landed at Masonboro Inlet on 19 September to gain intelligence on the defenses of Wilmington, North Carolina. They learned that raider CSS Tallahassee and several blockade runners were at Wilmington. That day Acting Master Edmund Kemble relieved Breck in command.
On 25 September, Niphon, Howquah, and USS Governor Buckingham, in an engagement with blockade runner Lynx and Confederate shore batteries, chased the blazing steamer ashore where she burned until consumed.
Late on the night of 29 September, Niphon fired upon Night Hawk as she attempted to run into New Inlet, and observed her go aground. A boat crew led by Acting Ensign Semon boarded the steamer and, under fire from Fort Fisher, set her ablaze and brought off the crew as prisoners.
Niphon ran the British blockade runner Condor aground off New Inlet on 1 October, but was prevented from destroying the steamer by intense fire from Fort Fisher. Among the passengers on board Condor was one of the most famous Confederate agents of the war, Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow who, fearful of being captured with her important dispatches, set out in a boat for shore. Her craft overturned in the heavy surf. The crew managed to get ashore; but the lady, weighted down by $2,000 in Confederate gold in a pouch around her neck, drowned.
On the 7th, the Union blockader USS Aster chased the blockade runner Annie ashore at New Inlet, under the guns of Fort Fisher, but the 285-ton Federal wooden steamer ran aground herself and was destroyed to prevent capture. Niphon rescued Aster’s crew under a hail of fire from Confederate batteries and towed out USS Berberry, after the Northern steamer had become disabled trying to pull Aster off the shoal.
On the last day of October, USS Wilderness and Niphon seized another blockade runner named Annie off New Inlet, North Carolina. She was a British steamer with cargo of tobacco, cotton, and turpentine.
Late in November Niphon, in need of extensive repairs, steamed to Boston where she was decommissioned on 1 December. She was sold at public auction there on 17 April 1865, and was documented as Tejuca on 23 October 1865 and was sold abroad in 1867.
The first USS Sassacus, a wooden, double-ended, side-wheel steamer, was launched on 23 December 1862 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 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.
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 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.
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.
USS Kansas 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.
The first USS Mount Vernon was a wooden-screw steamer in the United States Navy.
The first USS Nansemond, a side wheel steamer built at Williamsburg, N.Y. in 1862, as James F. Freeborn, was purchased by the Union Navy at New York City on 18 August 1863 from Richard Squires; it was renamed Nansemond and commissioned at Baltimore on 19 August, with Lieutenant Roswell H. Lamson in command.
USS Aries 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 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."
The USS Governor Buckingham was a hermaphrodite brig in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was built under contract by Messrs Maxon Fish & Co., Mystic, Conn., and was offered for sale to the Navy while on the ways; purchased at Stonington, Connecticut, 29 July 1863 by Isaac Henderson for $110,000; delivered at New York Navy Yard 30 September 1863; and commissioned 13 November 1863, Acting Volunteer Lt. W. G. Saltonstall in command. She was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, with instructions to report at Hampton Roads to Acting Rear Admiral S. P. Lee. The ship was probably named for the Governor of Connecticut, William Alfred Buckingham.
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 Malvern was a large steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was then used by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS Berberry 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 Iron Age 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 Tristram Shandy was a 444-ton steamer and blockade runner captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Columbia was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
USS Britannia 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 Preston was a blockade-running steamer originally named Annie that was captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Shokokon was a large (709-ton) steamer with powerful 30-pounder rifled guns, purchased by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.