The Stone Fleet consisted of a fleet of aging ships purchased in New Bedford and other New England ports, loaded with stone, and sailed south during the American Civil War by the Union Navy for use as blockships. They were to be deliberately sunk at the entrance of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina in the hope of obstructing blockade runners, then supplying Confederate interests. Although some sank along the way and others were sunk near Tybee Island, Georgia, to serve as breakwaters, wharves for the landing of Union troops, the majority were divided into two lesser fleets. One fleet was sunk to block the south channel off Morris Island, and the other to block the north channel near Rattlesnake Shoals off the present day Isle of Palms in what proved to be failed efforts to block access the main shipping channels into Charleston Harbor.
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.
The Battle of Port Royal was one of the earliest amphibious operations of the American Civil War, in which a United States Navy fleet and United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, between Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, on November 7, 1861. The sound was guarded by two forts on opposite sides of the entrance, Fort Walker on Hilton Head Island to the south and Fort Beauregard on Phillip's Island to the north. A small force of four gunboats supported the forts, but did not materially affect the battle.
The Georgiana was a brig-rigged, iron hulled, propeller steamer belonging to the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Reputedly intended to become the "most powerful" cruiser in the Confederate fleet once her guns were mounted, she was never used in battle. On her maiden voyage from Scotland, where she was built, she encountered Union Navy ships engaged in a blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, and was heavily damaged before being scuttled by her captain. The wreck was discovered in 1965 and lies in the shallow waters of Charleston's harbor.
USS Rebecca Sims was built as a general trading ship in 1801 by Samuel Bowers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Joseph Sims.
USS Tenedos, abark of 245 tons, 300 feet (91 m) long, was originally a Pacific whaler, owned by Lawrence and Company of New London, Connecticut. During the American Civil War, the United States Navy purchased her on 16 October 1861 for use in the "Stone Fleet," a group of ships to be sunk as obstructions along the coast of the Confederate States of America. Under the command of Master O. Sisson, she was sunk as blockship in Charleston Harbor off Charleston, South Carolina, on 19 or 20 December 1861.
USS Robin Hood was a 400-foot-long (120 m) ship of 395 tons, purchased by the United States Navy in Mystic, Connecticut, during the American Civil War on 20 October 1861 for use in the "Stone Fleet." In December 1861 she was sunk as an obstruction in Charleston Harbor off Charleston, South Carolina.
USS Amazon was a wooden-hulled bark of 318 tons that had previously sailed as a whaler out of Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
USS Peri was one of the ships of the Stone Fleet, sunk in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina as a blockade during the American Civil War.
USS American was a bark of 329 tons, a former whaler, purchased 1 November 1861 at Edgartown, Massachusetts for the Stone Fleet at a cost of $3,370. She left New Bedford, Massachusetts on 20 November 1861, and was intentionally sunk as an obstruction to shipping in the main channel of the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina on 20 December 1861. This ship has sometimes been recorded as America.
USS Stephen Young was one of the ships of the Stone Fleet, sunk in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina to be used as a blockade during the American Civil War.
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 Wamsutta was a steamer constructed for service with 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.
USS G. W. Blunt was a Sandy Hook pilot boat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War in 1861. See George W. Blunt (1856) for more details. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat as well as a dispatch boat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS George W. Rodgers was a schooner captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was initially intended to be used as part of the stone fleet of sunken obstructions; however, she was retained and used as a picket boat and dispatch vessel and, later, as a survey ship, concentrating her efforts in the waterways of the Confederate South.
The third USS Union was a heavy (1,114-ton) steamer with a powerful 12-inch rifled gun purchased by the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
USS South Wind (1861) was a schooner purchased by the Union Navy on 13 August 1861 at Baltimore, Maryland, for the "Stone Fleet" of American Civil War fame.
The Confederate privateers were privately owned ships that were authorized by the government of the Confederate States of America to attack the shipping of the United States. Although the appeal was to profit by capturing merchant vessels and seizing their cargoes, the government was most interested in diverting the efforts of the Union Navy away from the blockade of Southern ports, and perhaps to encourage European intervention in the conflict.
During the American Civil War, blockade runners were used to get supplies through the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America that extended some 3,500 miles (5,600 km) along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. The Confederacy had little industrial capability and could not indigenously produce the quantity of arms and other supplies needed to fight against the Union. To meet this need, numerous blockade runners were constructed in the British Isles 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 shipyards and specially designed for speed, but not suited for transporting large quantities of 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 government. If spotted, the blockade runners would attempt to outmaneuver or simply outrun any Union Navy warships on blockade patrol, often successfully.
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