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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive
Osceola (I)
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons
Civil War Campaign Medal
Sassacus-class Sidewheel Gunboat:
Built as the the wooden, sidewheel, double-ended gunboat Osceola by contract: hull by Curtis and Tilden, Boston, MA., machinery by Atlantic Works, cost $157,000
Launched 29 May 1863
Delivered to the Navy at the Boston Navy Yard, 9 January 1864
Commissioned USS Osceola, 10 February 1864, CDR. J. M. B. Cletz in command
USS Osceola departed Boston, 22 April, towing monitor USS Canonicus, reaching Hampton Roads 3 May
The next night, Osceola got underway up the James River in a joint Army-Navy expedition and helped clear a safe path through the Confederate mine field for sister ships and
Army transports
The troops landed at Bermuda Hundred, VA. in an operation helping Grant to tighten his squeeze on Richmond
In ensuing months Osceola continued operations on the James River supporting Grant's relentless offensive
She and USS Miami drove off Southern batteries which were firing on Union transports near Harrison's Landing, VA.
This and similar Naval efforts to protect Grant's lines of supply and communications contributed greatly to the success of the campaign against the Confederate capital
Late in December, Osceola steamed down the coast for the joint attack on Ft. Fisher which protected Wilmington
The Union troops withdrew from their beachheads on Christmas Day, but the Naval commander, RADM. Porter was not to be denied
He returned to the Cape Fear River 13 January and, after 3 days fighting, Ft. Fisher fell
Osceola decommissioned, 13 May 1865, at Boston Navy Yard
Sold at public auction, 1 October 1867, at New York for $16,000 to o Nehemiah Gibson of Boston
Converted into a four-masted schooner to haul timber between St. John, New Brunswick and Montevideo, Uruguay
Sold, date unknown, to Flint & Hall for $22,000, reflagged Uruguay, renamed Eliza.
Final Disposition, Eliza left St John for Montevideo, 28 July 1868 with a load of lumber. In early August 1868 she encountered a gale losing her foremast and rudder in the storm
She was completely disabled and on 10 August 1868 her mate and three men left the ship in a boat to seek help at Halifax. After a week in the open boat, the men were rescued by a
passing vessel. Meanwhile, Eliza continued to drift out of control in the Atlantic. On 6 September 1868, after almost a month adrift, Eliza's captain and
remaining crew were rescued by a passing ship. Eliza, now waterlogged and still out of control, was abandoned. The shipwrecked mariners were returned to Boston on 30 September 1868.
(Final Disposition and references can be found at Wikipedia)
Specifications:
Displacement 974 t.
Length 205'
Beam 35'
Depth of Hold 11'6"
Draft loaded forward 8' aft 8'5", light forward 7' aft 6'
Speed 15kts
Rig schooner
Complement unknown
Armament
30 June 1864 - two 100-pdr Parrott rifles, four IX-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, one heavy 12-pdr smoothbore, one 12-pdr rifle, two 24-pdr
30 September 1864 - two 100-pdr Parrott rifles, two IX-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, one heavy 12-pdr smoothbore, one 12-pdr rifle, one 24-pdr
13 March 1865 - two 100-pdr Parrott rifles, three IX-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, one heavy 12-pdr smoothbore, one 12-pdr rifle, one 24-pdr
Propulsion
one inclined, direct-acting surface condenser steam engine, cylinder diameter 58", stroke 8"9"
two vertical tubular boilers
two sidewheels
Click On Image
For Full Size Image |
Size | Image Description |
Contributed
By |
098635505 |
85k |
Generic lithograph representing the Sassacus-class gunboats.
Wikipedia |
John Spivey |
Osceola (I)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
|
Last Updated 22 July 2022
