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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Para

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Schooner:
  • Built, date and location unknown
  • Purchased by the Navy Department, 9 September 1861, from James Bishop & Co., New York
  • Fitted out for naval service and commissioned USS Para, 4 February 1862, Acting Master Edward J. Furber in command
  • During the Civil War USS Para was initially assigned to the Mississippi Mortar Flotilla
    Participated in the bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, at New Orleans, 18 to 24 April 1862
    Reassigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron for the remainder of the war
    Captured blockade running schooner Emma, 19 June 1863, off Mosquito Inlet, S.C.
    Participated in the attack on New Smyrna, 18 July 1863
    Escorted troops up the St. Mary’s River to Woodstock, FL. capturing steamer Hard Times, 16 to 23 February 1864
  • Decommissioned, 5 August 1865, at Boston, MA.
  • Sold at auction, 8 September 1865, to J. C. Osgood
    Specifications:
    Displacement 200 t.
    Length 98'
    Beam 24'
    Depth 9'
    Draft 9'
    Speed unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    one 13" mortar
    two 32-pdrs
    Propulsion sail
    Click On Image
    or Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description
    Dandelion 75k "Bombardment of Fort McAllister, Georgia, 3 March 1863"
    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1863, page 196, depicting the bombardment of Fort McAllister by the U.S. Navy monitors USS Passaic, USS Patapsco and USS Nahant. The engraving is based on a sketch by "an eye-witness" on board USS Montauk, which is in the right center foreground. In the left foreground, firing on the fort, are the mortar schooners USS C.P. Williams, USS Norfolk Packet and USS Para. Among other U.S. Navy ships involved were gunboats USS Wissahickon, USS Seneca and USS Dawn and tug USS Dandelion.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59288    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Westfield 103k "Commander Porter's Mortar Flotilla".
    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting the mortar schooner flotilla commanded by David Dixon Porter during the April 1862 attack on the forts below New Orleans.
    Vessels shown are (from left to right):
    USS Westfield,
    USS Adolph Hugel,
    USS Para,
    USS William Bacon,
    USS Oliver H. Lee,
    USS C.P. Williams,
    USS Henry Janes,
    USS George Mangham,
    USS Racer,
    USS Horace Beals,
    USS Sarah Bruen,
    USS Samuel Rotan,
    USS John Griffith,
    USS Rachel Seaman,
    USS Maria J. Carlton,
    USS Sidney C. Jones,
    USS T.A. Ward,
    USS Sea Foam,
    USS Maria A. Wood,
    USS Octorara (Porter's flagship) and
    USS Matthew Vassar.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59061    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Para
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 12 May 2017