USS Memphis (1862)
USS Memphis
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States
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| Name: | Memphis |
| Builder: | William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland |
| Launched: | 1861 |
| Fate: | Captured, July 31, 1862 |
 United States
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| Name: | USS Memphis |
| Acquired: |
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| Commissioned: | October 4, 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | May 6, 1867 |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Screw steamer |
| Displacement: | 791 long tons (804 t) |
| Length: | 227 ft 6 in (69.34 m) |
| Beam: | 30 ft 1 in (9.17 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h) |
| Armament: | 7 × guns |
The second USS Memphis was a 7-gun screw steamer, built by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1861, which briefly served as a Confederate blockade runner before being captured and taken into the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
Memphis — while running the Union blockade of Confederate ports on June 22, 1862 — ran aground while attempting to enter Charleston harbor, South Carolina. Efficient work by Southern troops got her partially unloaded on the following day, and she was towed to safety before Federal warships could hit her with shell fire. Memphis was captured by sidewheel gunboat USS Magnolia outbound from Charleston with a cargo of cotton on July 31, 1862, and purchased by the Union Navy from a prize court at New York City on September 4, 1862. Memphis was commissioned on October 4, 1862, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Pendleton G. Watmough in command.
Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Memphis sailed for Charleston and began service on October 14 with the capture of British steamer Ouachita bound for Havana, Cuba. She continued patrol in 1862–1863. On January 4, 1863, she joined sidewheel steamer Quaker City in taking Confederate sloop Mercury with a cargo of turpentine for Nassau, Bahamas. On January 31, Confederate ironclads CSS Palmetto State and CSS Chicora made a dash out of Charleston Harbor into the midst of the blockading ships. Screw steamer Mercedita was rammed and disabled by Palmetto State while sidewheel steamer Keystone State was next attacked and left for Memphis to take in tow. The two rams then retired.
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Wikipedia