USS Penobscot (1861)
| Career (US) | Union Navy Jack |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | not known |
| Launched: | 19 November 1861 |
| Acquired: | 16 January 1862 |
| Commissioned: | 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 July 1865 |
| Struck: | 1869 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold, 19 October 1869 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 691 tons |
| Length: | 158 ft 4 in (48.26 m) |
| Beam: | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Draught: |
depth of hold 12’, draft 10’6” |
| Propulsion: | steam engine, screw |
| Speed: | not known |
| Complement: | not known |
| Armament: |
one 11” Dahlgren smoothbore gun one 20-pounder Parrott rifle, two 24-pounder howitzers |
USS Penobscot (1861) was a steam operated gunboat 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.
Contents
Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockade
Penobscot, built in ninety days by C.P. Carter, Belfast, Maine, was launched 19 November 1861 and delivered to the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts, 16 January 1862. Assigned initially to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Penobscot destroyed her first Confederate vessel, the schooner Sereta, grounded and abandoned off Shallotte Inlet, North Carolina, 8 June 1862.
On 1 August she seized sloop Lizzie off New Inlet and on 22 October British brig Robert Burns off Cape Fear. Again off Shallotte Inlet 3 November, she forced the British ship Pathfinder aground, then destroyed her. Continuing her patrol of the Carolina coast into the summer of 1863, she forced blockade runner Kate ashore at Smith’s Island 12 July.
Gulf of Mexico operations
Shifted then to the Gulf of Mexico, Penobscot joined the blockade ships cruising off the Texas coast. In early January 1864, she provided support for troops landed on the Matagorda Peninsula on 31 December. On 28 February she seized Lilly, a British schooner attempting to run the blockade at Velasco, Texas, to deliver her cargo of powder, and the next day captured schooners Stingray and John Douglas, outward bound with cargoes of cotton. On 12 July, off Galveston, Texas, the “ninety-day” gunboat intercepted the schooner James Williams with a cargo of medicine, coffee, and liquor.
Penobscot’s final operations of the war
By 1865 the Union stranglehold had achieved its purpose. The South was suffering for the materials necessary to wage war. On 18 February Penobscot made her last interceptions. She forced the schooners Mary Agnes and Louisa ashore at Aransas Pass and on the 19th sent a boat crew to destroy them.
Post-war activity and final decommissioning and sale
After the war Penobscot returned to the U.S. East Coast. She decommissioned at New York City 31 July 1865 and on 19 October 1869 was sold, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Nehemiah Gibson.
References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
See also
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 Maine
- United States Navy steamships
- Gunboats of the United States Navy
- American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States
- 1861 ships
