USS Violet (1862)
| History | |
|---|---|
  United States
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| Ordered: | as Martha |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | in 1862 at Brooklyn, New York |
| Acquired: |
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| Commissioned: |
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| Out of service: | 8 August 1864 |
| Struck: | 1864 (est.) |
| Fate: | destroyed, 8 August 1864 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 166 tons |
| Length: | 85' |
| Beam: | 19' 9" |
| Draught: | depth of hold 11' 9" |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | not known |
| Complement: | not known |
| Armament: |
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USS Violet (1862) was a 166-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy for use during the American Civil War.
Violet served the Navy in several ways: as a gunboat, as a tugboat, and as a torpedo boat. She served on the U.S. East Coast in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.
Violet -- a wooden steam tug built as Martha in 1862 at Brooklyn, New York -- was purchased by the Navy at New York City on 30 December 1862 for use during the American Civil War; and was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 29 January 1863.
Soon after her commissioning, Violet was dispatched to Newport News, Virginia, for duty as a tugboat with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. On 27 March, she received orders to proceed to the blockade off Cape Fear Inlet, near Wilmington, North Carolina, and finally arrived for duty in early April after a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, had forced her return to Hampton Roads, Virginia, in a sinking condition on 28 March.
While off Wilmington, the vessel performed double duty as both a tug and a blockader. On the night of 11 April, she chased and fired upon an unidentified steamer and, in the company of Aries, discovered the blockade-running British steamer Ceres aground and burning at the mouth of the Cape Fear River on 6 December.
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