USS Port Royal (1862)
| AlternateTextHere | |
| Career (USA) | Union Navy Jack 100x35px |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Port Royal |
| Namesake: | One of the Sea Islands in Beaufort County, South Carolina captured for the Union by a combined Army-Navy expedition November 7, 1861 |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | January 17, 1862 at New York |
| Commissioned: | April 26, 1862 at the New York Navy Yard |
| Decommissioned: | May 23, 1866 |
| Struck: | 1866 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold at Boston, Massachusetts, October 3, 1866 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | steamboat |
| Displacement: | 805 tons |
| Length: | 209’ |
| Beam: | 35’ |
| Draft: | 9’ |
| Depth of hold: | 11’ 6” |
| Propulsion: | steam engine, side-wheel propelled |
| Speed: | 9 knots |
| Complement: | not known |
| Armament: | not known |
| Notes: | double ended ship |
USS Port Royal (1862) was a double-ended steamboat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The steamboat was converted into an armed gunboat by the Navy, and assigned to patrol the rivers and other waterways of the Confederate States of America and to enforce the Union blockade on the South.
Built in New York
Port Royal, a wooden, double-ended, side-wheel gunboat, was launched at New York January 17, 1862 by Thomas Stock, and commissioned at New York Navy Yard, April 26, 1862.
Civil War service
Departing New York May 4, Port Royal steamed to Hampton Roads, Virginia, to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in supporting General George McClellan’s drive up the peninsula toward Richmond, Virginia. She engaged Confederate batteries at Sewell’s Point, Virginia, May 8 and a week later participated in the attack on Fort Darling, Drury’s Bluff, on the James River below the southern capital.
After General Robert E. Lee’s brilliant seven day campaign turned back McClellan’s thrust, Port Royal shifted operations to the North Carolina Sounds. She was part of the Union Naval force which reconnoitered the Neuse River, North Carolina, arid attacked Kingston, 12–December 16.
The spring of 1863 found her operating along the Florida coast. On April 20, a landing party from the ship raided Apalachicola, Florida, capturing cotton and ordnance. On May 24 a boat expedition captured sloop Fashion laden with cotton in the same area. The Union party also burned a ship repair facility at Devil’s Elbow and destroyed a barge.
In ensuing months Port Royal continued to patrol the Confederate coast. In August 1864, she served with Rear Admiral David Farragut during the operations in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Port Royal then continued patrol duty through the end of the Civil War.
Post-war decommissioning
Decommissioned May 23, 1866, she was sold at Boston, Massachusetts, October 3, 1866.
See also
References
- This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- USS Port Royal (1862-1866)
