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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Elk (I)


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Side-wheel Steamer (Tinclad # 47):
  • Built in 1863 as the side-wheel steamer Countess at Cincinnati
  • Purchased for the navy by ADM. David D. Porter, 8 December 1863
  • Converted to a Gunboat and renamed Elk 26 January 1864,
  • Commissioned, USS Elk, 6 May 1864, LCDR. J. H. Gillis in command
  • During the Civil War USS Elk was assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and patrolled the waters off New Orleans and Mobile, and in the lower Mississippi River
  • Decommissioned, date unknown, at New Orleans
  • Sold, 24 August 1865, at New Orleans, re-documented as SS Countess
  • Final Disposition, sunk in 1868
    Specifications:
    Displacement 162 t.
    Length 156'
    Beam 29'
    Depth of Hold 3' 10"
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement 65
    Armament
    two 32-pdrs
    four 24-pdr smoothbores
    Propulsion steam
    two side-wheels

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    Size Image Description Source
    Elk
    094611501
    175k
    Namesake
    Elk - one of the largest species within the deer family, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in North America, as well as Central and East Asia. (Wikipedia)
    Tommy Trampp
    Elk 184k USS Elk officers on the ship's upper deck, seen from a similar river steamer during the Civil War. Note fancy woodwork around the deck edge and pilothouse roof, bullet-proof metal plating and ship's number ("47") on the pilothouse, and smokestack brace.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 54359
    Bill Gonyo

    USS Elk (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 2 July 2021