USS Minnesota was a wooden steam frigate in the United States Navy. Launched in 1855 and commissioned eighteen months later, the ship served in east Asia for two years before being decommissioned. She was recommissioned at the outbreak of the American Civil War and returned to service as the flagship of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
The first USS Weehawken was a Passaic-class ironclad monitor in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named after Weehawken, New Jersey.
The first USS Sassacus, a wooden, double-ended, sidewheel steamer in commission in the United States Navy from 1863 to 1865. She saw service in the American Civil War.
USS Vicksburg was a wooden steamship built in 1863 at Mystic, Connecticut; purchased by the United States Navy at New York City on 20 October 1863; converted into a gunboat; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 2 December, Lieutenant Commander L. Braine in command. Vicksburg was named in honor of the great victory that General Ulysses S. Grant had recently won at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
USS Stars and Stripes was a 407-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy and put to use by the Union 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 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 Vanderbilt was a heavy (3,360-ton) passenger steamship obtained by the Union Navy during the second year of the American Civil War and utilized as a cruiser.
USS Young America was a Confederate steamer captured by the Union Navy’s blockade vessels, and subsequently placed in-service in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS General Putnam – also known as the USS William G. Putnam – was acquired by the Union Navy during the first year of the American Civil War and outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. She also served as a tugboat and as a ship's tender when so required.
USS Shawsheen was a steam operated tugboat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Aster was a steam operated 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 Amanda was a bark acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Bazely was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy in a tugboat/patrol boat role in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
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 Alpha was a screw-propelled tugboat purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. It was later fitted with a spar torpedo and operated in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Victoria was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Poppy was a steamer commissioned by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
CSS Squib, also known as CSS Infanta, was a Squib-class torpedo boat that served in the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Squib was laid down in 1863, and was launched in early 1864. Her design was a form of launch armed with a spar torpedo. Initially serving on the James River as a flag of truce boat, she snuck into the Union Navy anchorage at Hampton Roads and attacked the steam frigate USS Minnesota early on the morning of April 9, 1864. Minnesota was damaged but not sunk, and Squib was able to escape back upriver. At an unknown time in mid-1864, Squib was moved by rail to the Wilmington, North Carolina, area, where she served on the Cape Fear River. Records of her service at Wilmington after November 1864 are not extant, but she may have resupplied a Confederate fortification during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in January 1865. The next month, the Confederates withdrew from Wilmington, and Squib was scuttled off Cape Fear.
The Squib class torpedo boats were built for the Confederate States Navy during the later stages of the American Civil War. After the torpedo boat CSS David attacked and damaged the ironclad USS New Ironsides, the Confederates continued building torpedo boats with hopes of breaking the Union blockade. Four vessels of the class – CSS Hornet, CSS Wasp, CSS Squib, and CSS Scorpion – were constructed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1864. All were armed with a single spar torpedo and were powered by steam engines. Squib damaged the gunboat USS Minnesota in an attack on April 9, 1864, and was later sent to Wilmington, North Carolina, where she was scuttled in February 1865. The other three vessels of the class were all part of the James River Squadron and participated in the Battle of Trent's Reach on the night of January 23 and 24, 1865. Scorpion ran aground during the battle, and was forced downriver and out of control after the tender CSS Drewry exploded on January 24. She was later captured by Union forces and may have been burned. Hornet was sunk in a collision with another vessel on January 27, and Wasp was scuttled on the night of April 2/3, as the Confederates were abandoning Richmond.
United States
