USRC Harriet Lane (1857)
Artist's rendition of USS Harriet Lane
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| History | |
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| Laid down: | 1859 |
| Launched: | 1859 |
| Commissioned: | 1861 |
| Decommissioned: | 1881 |
| Fate: | Abandoned at sea |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 730 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 639 |
| Length: | 177.5 ft (54.1 m) |
| Beam: | 30.5 ft (9.3 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | A double-right-angled marine engine with two side paddles |
| Speed: | 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Complement: | 95 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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Harriet Lane was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service and, on the outbreak of the American Civil War, a ship of the United States Navy and later Confederate States Navy. The craft was named after the niece of senator and later United States President, James Buchanan; during his presidency, she acted as First Lady. The cutter was christened and entered the water for the Revenue Service in 1859 out of New York City, and saw action during the Civil War at Fort Sumter, New Orleans, Galveston, Texas, and Virginia Point and was captured by the Confederates in 1863, whereupon she was converted to a trade ship. She was promptly recaptured by the Union forces, declared unfit for service, sold, and rechristened the Elliot Ritchie out of Philadelphia, only to be abandoned at sea in 1881.
Harriet Lane measured 177.5 feet long, 30.5 feet wide and 12 feet from the bottom of the hull to the main deck. Her propulsion was a double-right-angled marine engine with two side paddles, supported by two masts; the entire ship was sheathed and fastened with copper. From stern to bow, the captain's cabin and stateroom sat above an aft magazine, forward of which was a second magazine with the officer quarters above. Forward of this, in the midships was the engine machinery and coal supply, and beyond this the quarters and galley for the non-commissioned ranks which sat above a third magazine. Her initial armaments were described as "light guns", however after joining the West Gulf Squadron her firepower was upgraded somewhat: one four-inch rifled Parrott gun to the forecastle, one nine-inch Dahlgren gun before the first mast, two eight-inch Dahlgren Columbiads and two twenty-four-pound brass howitzers. Her crew of 95 were also given small arms.
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