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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Donegal

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Side-wheel Steamer:
  • Built in 1860 as SS Donegal at Wilmington, DE.
  • Confederate blockade runner occasional y used named SS Austin
  • Captured, 6 June 1864, off Mobile Bay by USS Metacomet
  • Condemned at Philadelphia, PA.
  • Purchased by the Federal Navy, fitted out at Philadelphia Navy Yard
  • Commissioned, USS Donegal, 3 September 1864, Acting Volunteer LT. William H. West in command.
  • USS Donegal was used primarily as a transport and occasionally saw service as a patrol boat
  • Rescued crew of USS Commodore McDonough which sank on 23 August 1865
  • Decommissioned, 8 September 1865
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Sold 27 September 1865
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,080 t.
    Length 200'
    Beam 36'
    Draft 8'
    Speed 10 kts
    Complement 130
    Armament
    two 30-pdr rifles
    two 12-pdr smoothbores
    Propulsion steam
    two side-wheels
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Donegal
    098622701    		 151k Water color by Erik Heyl, of the side-wheel merchant steamer SS Austin (later USS Donegal).
    Image from "Early American Steamers", vol. I., 1952.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 63865    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Donegal
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
     Master's Mate Fowler, Charles14 January 1862 - 6 June 1864 (Captured)CS Austin
    01Acting Vol. LT. West, William H.3 September 1864 (Commissioned) - 3 January 1865USS Donegal
    02Acting Vol. LT. Upham, George D. 3 January 1865 - 8 September 1865 (Decommissioned)USS Donegal
    Courtesy Bill Gonyo
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    Last Updated 9 July 2021