USS Colorado (1856)
USS Colorado
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| History | |
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| Builder: | Norfolk Navy Yard |
| Laid down: | 1856 |
| Launched: | 19 June 1856 |
| Sponsored by: | Ms. N. S. Dornin |
| Commissioned: | 13 March 1858 |
| Decommissioned: | 8 June 1876 |
| Fate: | Sold, 18 February 1885 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | none |
| Type: | Screw frigate |
| Displacement: | 3,425 long tons (3,480 t) |
| Length: | 263 ft 8 in (80.37 m) |
| Beam: | 52 ft 6 in (16.00 m) |
| Draft: | 22 ft 1 in (6.73 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Sail plan: | Three masts |
| Speed: | 9 kn (10 mph; 17 km/h) |
| Complement: | 674 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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| General characteristics 1864 | |
| Class and type: | none |
| Armament: |
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| General characteristics 1871 | |
| Class and type: | none |
| Armament: |
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The first USS Colorado, a 3,400-long-ton (3,500 t), three-mastedsteam screw frigate, was launched on 19 June 1856 by the Norfolk Navy Yard. It was sponsored by Ms. N. S. Dornin, and commissioned on 13 March 1858, Captain W. H. Gardner in command.
Putting to sea from Boston on 12 May 1858, Colorado cruised in Cuban waters deterring the practice of search by British cruisers until 6 August, when she returned to Boston and was placed in ordinary until 1861.
Colorado was recommissioned on 3 June 1861 and sailed from Boston on 18 June to join the Union Navy's Gulf Blockading Squadron, under the task force command of Commodore William Marvine's flagship for the Blockade. On 14 September, an expedition under Lieutenant J. H. Russell from Colorado cut out the schooner Judah, believed to be preparing for service as a privateer and spiked one gun of a battery at the Pensacola Navy Yard, losing three men in the raid. On 11 December, another expedition was sent to Pilot Town and succeeded in capturing a small schooner and two men. Colorado assisted in the capture of the steamer Calhoun (or Cuba) on 23 January 1862 off South West Pass at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and a week later engaged four Confederate steamers.
In April 1862 the Colorado, built for fighting at sea, was prevented from participating in the Battle of New Orleans because her draft was too deep to cross the bar. Nineteen guns and one howitzer were removed and distributed across the fleet. She returned to Boston on 21 June and was decommissioned from 28 June-10 November.
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Wikipedia