CSS Robert E. Lee
CSS Robert E. Lee, 1862
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Giraffe |
| Owner: | Burns Line |
| Builder: | J&G Thomson's Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard, Govan, Glasgow |
| Launched: | 16 May 1860 |
 Confederate States
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| Name: | Robert E. Lee |
| Operator: | Confederate States Navy |
| Commissioned: | 1862 |
| Fate: | Captured by U.S. Navy, 9 November 1863 |
 United States
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| Name: | Fort Donelson |
| Operator: | Union Navy |
| Acquired: | 9 November 1863 |
| Commissioned: | 29 June 1864 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 August 1865 |
| Fate: | Sold October 1865 and renamed Isabella |
 Chile
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| Name: | Concepción |
| Acquired: | 1866 |
| Commissioned: | 1866 |
| Decommissioned: | 1868 |
| Fate: | Sold 1 May 1868 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 900 tons |
| Length: | 283 ft (86 m) |
| Beam: | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Draft: | 10 ft (3.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h) |
| Armament: |
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CSS Robert E. Lee was a blockade runner for the Confederate States during the American Civil War that later served in the United States Navy as USS Fort Donelson and in the Chilean Navy as Concepción.
Robert E. Lee was originally the merchant ship Giraffe, a schooner-rigged, iron-hulled, oscillating-engined paddle-steamer with two stacks, built by J&G Thomson's Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard at Govan in Glasgow, Scotland, and launched on 16 May 1860 as a fast Glasgow-Belfast packet for the Burns Line. Alexander Collie & Co. of Manchester acquired her for their blockade-running fleet, but were persuaded by renowned blockade-runner Lieutenant John Wilkinson, CSN, to sell her to the Confederate States Navy for the same £32,000 just paid.
Her first voyage was into Old Inlet, Wilmington, North Carolina in January 1863 with valuable munitions and 26 Scottish lithographers, eagerly awaited by the Confederate Government bureau of engraving and printing. On January 26, Union intelligence maintained she "could be captured easily" at anchor in Ossabaw Sound, but this was not to be for another 10 months. Running out again, Robert E. Lee started to establish a nearly legendary reputation for blockade running by leaving astern blockader USS Iroquois.
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Wikipedia