CSS Patrick Henry
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| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | Patrick Henry |
| Launched: | 1859 |
| Christened: | (as Yorktown) |
| Commissioned: | 17 April 1861 |
| Fate: | burned to prevent capture 3 April 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1300 tons |
| Length: | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Beam: | 34 ft (10 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam |
| Complement: | 150 officers and men |
| Armament: | 1 × 10-inch (254 mm) smooth-bore, 1 × 64 pounder (29 kg), 6 × 8-inch (203 mm) guns, 2 × 32 pounder (15 kg) rifles |
CSS Patrick Henry was built in New York City in 1859 by the renowned William H. Webb for the Old Dominion Steam Ship Line as the civilian steamer Yorktown, a brigantine-rigged side-wheel steamer. She carried passengers and freight between Richmond, Virginia and New York City. Yorktown was anchored in the James River when Virginia seceded from the Union on 17 April 1861 and was seized by the Virginia Navy and later turned over to the Confederate Navy on 8 June 1861. Commander John Randolph Tucker, who commanded the ship, directed that Yorktown be converted into a gunboat and renamed Patrick Henry in honor of that revolutionary patriot. She also served as the first flagship of the James River Squadron.
Still commonly referred to as Yorktown, she was assigned to a position near Mulberry Island in the James River to protect the right flank of the Confederate Army of the Peninsula.
On 13 September 1861 and again on 2 December, Commander Tucker took Patrick Henry down the river to a point about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) above Newport News, Virginia, and opened fire on the Federal squadron at long range hoping to draw out some of the gunboats. The gambit was refused, but Tucker inflicted some minor damage.
During the Battle of Hampton Roads on 8 March 1862 in which CSS Virginia destroyed the Federal warships USS Cumberland and USS Congress, Patrick Henry attempted to take the latter's surrender but was fired upon by shore batteries, and took a shell in her steam chest that killed four men. Towed out of action long enough to make repairs, she soon resumed her former position.
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Wikipedia