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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Violet (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Steam Tug

Laid down in 1862 as the wooden steam tug Martha at Brooklyn, N.Y.

Purchased by the Navy at New York City, 30 December 1862

Commissioned USS Violet, 29 January 1863, at the New York Navy Yard

Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, as a tug at Newport News, VA.

On 27 March, she received orders to proceed to the blockade off Cape Fear Inlet, near Wilmington, N.C., arriving for duty in early April

While off Wilmington, Violet performed double duty as both a tug and a blockader

She and USS Aries chased the blockade-running British steamer Ceres until finding her aground and burning at the mouth of the Cape Fear River on 6 December.

When Ceres floated free during the night, Violet seized her and extinguished the fire

Violet grounded on 20 December while attempting to refloat the Confederate blockade-running steamer Antoniea

Violet lay aground for two nights and a day. After her guns had been heaved overboard she was finally refloated

After completing repairs at Norfolk Navy Yard in early 1864, Violet was assigned in April as a tug to the ironclad USS Roanoke off Newport News

Violet was fitted with a torpedo device in July and reassigned to her old blockade station off the Cape Fear River

On the night of 7 August, she ran aground while proceeding to her inshore station

Despite the efforts of both her crew and volunteers to refloat her the tides forced Violet harder aground

Final Disposition, seeing that the situation was hopeless, Violet's captain and crew fired her magazine to prevent capture, and the vessel blew up on the morning of the 8 August 1864

Specifications:
Displacement 166 t.
Length unknown 85'
Beam unknown 19'9"
Depth of Hull 11'9"
Draft unknown
Speed unknown
Complement unknown

Armament

one 12-pdr cannon

one 12-pdr rifle

one torpedo (1864)

Propulsion

steam engine

single propeller

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Contributed By
098690201	120k	Painting of the steam tugboat *Martha* underway while in merchant. She was commissioned as the gunboat USS Violet. She was blown up to prevent capture in 1864. This is a cropped version of the painting.		Robert Hurst

USS Violet (I)
Dictionary of American Navy Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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Last Updated 20 August 2021