USS Bibb (1853)
| Career (US) | Union Navy Jack |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Bibb |
| Laid down: | 24 February 1853 |
| Launched: | 12 May 1853 |
| In service: | 1864 |
| Out of service: | 1864 |
| Struck: | 1864 (est.) |
| Homeport: | Washington Navy Yard |
| Fate: | returned to Coast Survey |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 409 long tons (416 t) |
| Length: | Unknown |
| Beam: | Unknown |
| Draught: | Unknown |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | Unknown |
| Complement: | 35 |
| Armament: | Unknown |
USS Bibb (1853) was a Coast and Survey vessel that performed survey work during the American Civil War.
In 1864, when Washington, D.C., appeared under threat when Jubal Early’s Confederate Army crossed the Potomac River, Bibb was quickly commandeered and armed by the Union Navy.
Contents
Bibb was laid down for the Coast Survey by the Boston Navy Yard on 24 February 1853; launched on 12 May 1853; and got underway on 11 August for her first cruise.
Civil War service
Service in the war with the South Atlantic Blockade
At the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, she was transferred to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, but returned to the Coast Survey in November.
Assigned to the contingent of that organization attached to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, she steamed to Port Royal, South Carolina, and reported to the head of the former organization, Assistant Charles O. Boutelle, USCS, in January 1862 and relieved Vixen, freeing that vessel to proceed north for repairs.
She served the Union cause in a variety of ways: surveying and buoying harbors and channels along the Atlantic coast of the Confederacy between South Carolina and Florida; escorting transports; towing and piloting gunboats; carrying dispatches; and performing any other duties that were of assistance to the Union Army and Navy. Her labors won her the most generous praise of the leaders of both services.
The ship spent the first half of 1864 in the Washington Navy Yard undergoing repairs. As this work was being completed, Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early crossed the Potomac River on a raid that endangered Washington, D.C.
In an effort to help parry this threat to the Union capital, Commander Foxhall A. Parker took over Bibb from the Coast Survey, armed her, and ordered her to the Gunpowder River where Southern troops had been seen.
Commanded by Acting Ensign George E. McConnell, the steamer then ascended that stream but could not move closer than a point some five miles below Gunpowder Bridge and hence never got into contact with the Confederate troops. After the crisis had passed, Parker returned Bibb to the Coast Survey for which she operated out of the Washington Navy Yard through the end of 1864.
Reassigned by the Coast Survey to the South Atlantic Blockade
Early in 1865, the steamer rejoined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron; and she worked along the Southern coast through the end of the war.
Post-war service
Following the collapse of the Confederacy, she resumed peacetime service with the Coast Survey.
See also
References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
External links
- Ship infoboxes without an image
- Pages with broken file links
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
- Ships of the Union Navy
- Ships built in Massachusetts
- United States Navy steamships
- Tugs of the United States Navy
- United States Navy dispatch boats
- American Civil War auxiliary ships of the United States
- 1853 ships
