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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Horace Beals

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Barkentine:
  • Built as the wood barkentine Horace Beals date and location unknown
  • launched, date unknown
  • Purchased by the Navy, 14 September 1851, at New York City
  • Commissioned USS Horace Beals, 5 February 1862, at New York Navy Yard, LCDR. K. R. Breese in command
  • USS Horace Beals was assigned as supply ship for CDR. David Porter's Mortar Flotilla
  • The barkentine sailed with the rest of the flotilla from Key West 3 March and on 11 March anchored at Ship Island, MS.
  • A week later Horace Beals crossed the bar at Pass a l'Outre with Porter's mortar schooners
  • During the bombardment Forts Jackson and St. Philip Horace Beals kept the mortar schooners supplied with ammunition and provisions
  • After New Orleans and the forts protecting her had surrendered, Horace Beals and the mortar flotilla retired to Mobile Bay, AL.
  • Needed for the siege at Vicksburg the mortar flotilla sailed up the Mississippi, 22 June, with USS Kensington towing USS Horace Beals and schooner USS Sarah Bruen
  • On 26 June they dueled with enemy batteries at Ellis Cliffs silencing the Confederate guns
  • The mortar schooners opened fire on the batteries at Vicksburg 26 June and continued the attack while Farragut's ships ran by gauntlet of cannon fire 28 June and again on 15 July
  • Horace Beals spent the rest of the year supplying ships of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, operating from Pensacola
  • She was ordered to New Orleans 22 December and arrived there 1 January 1863 from which she continued to supply ships operating against Vicksburg and Port Hudson
  • During the remainder of the war she operated between New York and stations in the Gulf of Mexico suppling ships of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron
  • Decommissioned, date unknown, at New York City and sold to A. Leary 30 May 1865
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 296 t
    Length 121'6"
    Beam 30'8"
    Draft unknown
    Depth of Hold 11'8"
    Speed unknown
    Complement 39
    Armament
    one 32-pdr
    one 30-pdr
    Propulsion sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    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 Horace Beals
    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