USS Britannia
| History | |
|---|---|
  United States
|
|
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 1862 |
| Acquired: | September 29, 1863 |
| Commissioned: | September 16, 1863 |
| Decommissioned: | June 28, 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Captured: |
|
| Fate: | sold, August 10, 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 495 tons |
| Length: | 189 ft (58 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 12.5 knots |
| Complement: | 75 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: | iron hulled |
USS Britannia (1862) was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat and patrol vessel in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
In 1862, speculators in the British Isles constructed the iron-hulled, side-wheel steamer Britannia at Leith, Scotland, to run through the Union Navy's blockade of the Confederate coast during the American Civil War.
After three successful voyages carrying munitions and supplies to the beleaguered South, Britannia departed Charleston, South Carolina, on June 21, 1863 and headed for Nassau, New Providence, with a cargo of cotton.
About dawn on the 25th, USS Santiago de Cuba sighted the blockade runner some 90 miles east northeast of Eleuthera Island. Britannia attempted to escape; but, at the end of a day-long chase "against a strong wind and sea" in which the Union sidewheel steamer slowly gained on the fleeing ship, Santiago de Cuba, about 7:00 p.m., finally was close enough to open fire. Her shells fell close around their target and quickly brought Britannia to. Commander Robert H. Wyman, the captain of Santiago de Cuba, placed a prize crew under Acting Master Edgar C. Merriman on board Britannia and sent her to Boston, Massachusetts.
She was condemned by the admiralty court there and sold to the United States Navy on September 29, 1863. However, almost a fortnight before, the Navy—anticipating the completion of this transaction—had placed Britannia in commission on September 16, 1863 at the Boston Navy Yard, Acting Master Hugh H. Savage in command.
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