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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Mattabesett

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Sassacus Class Sidewheel Steamer:
  • A schooner-rigged, wooden hulled, double-ended, sidewheel gunboat, built, date unknown, by A. & G. T. Sampson, Boston, MA.
  • Delivered to the New York Navy Yard 18 January 1864
  • Commissioned USS Mattabesett, 7 April 1864, CDR. John C. Febiger in command
  • During the Civil War USS Mattabesett was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in the North Carolina Sounds
    Participated in the engagement of the Confederate ram CSS Albemarle off the mouth of the Roanoke River, 5 May 1864
  • Decommissioned, 31 May 1865, at New York
  • Sold, 15 October 1865, at New York
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 974 t.(lt) 1,173 t.(fl)
    Length 205'
    Beam 35'
    Depth 11' 6"
    Draft 9' (loaded)
    Speed 14 kts
    Complement 145
    Armament
    two 100-pdr Parrott rifles
    four 11" Dahlgren smoothbores
    one 12-pdr rifle
    one 12-pdr smoothbore
    Propulsion steam
    two sidewheels
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Sassacus (I)
    098635505    		 85k Generic lithograph representing the Sassacus-class gunboats.
    Wikipedia    		 John Spivey
    Albemarle 143k "Wood versus iron" 19th Century photograph of an artwork by Acting Second Engineer Alexander C. Stuart, USN, 1864. It shows CSS Albemarle engaging several Federal gunboats on Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, 5 May 1864. USS Sassacus is in left center, ramming the Confederate ironclad. Other U.S. Navy ships seen are (from left): USS Commodore Hull, USS Wyalusing and USS Mattabesett. The Confederate transport CSS Bombshell, captured during the action, is in the right background. Albemarle was not significantly damaged during this action, which left Sassacus disabled by a hit in one of her boilers. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 1673. From the collection of Surgeon H.P. Babcock, presented by George R. Babcock, 1938. Robert Hurst
    USS Mattabesett
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 12 August 2022