USS Bibb (1853)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS Bibb |
| Namesake: | George M. Bibb |
| Owner: | U.S. Coast Survey |
| Operator: | Union Navy |
| Builder: | private contractor |
| Laid down: | February 24, 1853 |
| Launched: | May 12, 1853 |
| Maiden voyage: | 1853 |
| In service: | 1864 |
| Out of service: | 1864 |
| Refit: | 1864 |
| Struck: | 1864 (est.) |
| Homeport: | Washington Navy Yard |
| Fate: | returned to Coast Survey |
| Status: | retired and decommissioned 1879 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | revenue cutter |
| Displacement: | 409 long tons (416 t) |
| Length: | Unknown |
| Beam: | Unknown |
| Draught: | Unknown |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | Unknown |
| Complement: | 35 |
| Armament: | Unknown |
USS Bibb (1853) was a Coast Survey vessel that performed survey work during the American Civil War. In 1864, when Washington, D.C. appeared under threat after Lt Gen. Jubal Early’s Confederate army crossed the Potomac River, Bibb was commandeered and armed by the Union Navy.
Bibb was laid down for the Coast Survey at the Charlestown Navy Yard on February 24, 1853, by a private contractor; launched on May 12, 1853; and got underway on August 11 for her first cruise.
The engines for this vessel came from the USRC Bibb (1843), built for the Revenue Cutter Service at Pittsburgh in 1845, and transferred to the Coast Survey in 1847, following blockade duty during the war with Mexico. (Many sources, including the Coast Guard Historian's office, consider these the same vessel.)
Bibb spent her career before the Southern rebellion in the Atlantic, on apparently unremarkable duty.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Bibb was transferred to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, but returned to the Coast Survey in November.
Assigned to the Coast Survey contingent attached to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Bibb steamed to Port Royal, South Carolina, and reported to the head of the former organization, Assistant Charles O. Boutelle, USCS, in January 1862, relieving Vixen and freeing that vessel to proceed north for repairs.
Bibb served the Union cause in many ways: surveying and buoying harbors and channels along the Atlantic coast of the Confederacy between South Carolina and Florida; escorting transports; towing and piloting gunboats; carrying dispatches; and performing any other duties that were of assistance to the Union Army and Navy. Her labors won her the most generous praise of the leaders of both services.
...
Wikipedia