USS General Putnam (1857)
General Putnam (foreground) and Satellite.
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
  United States
|
|
| Ordered: | as William G. Putnam |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 1857 at Brooklyn, New York |
| Acquired: | 24 July 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 13 September 1861 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 June 1865 |
| In service: | 1865 |
| Out of service: | 1891 |
| Struck: | 1891 |
| Fate: | sold in 1893 for $1,825. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 149 tons |
| Length: | 103 ft 6 in (31.55 m) |
| Beam: | 22 ft 0 in (6.71 m) |
| Draught: | 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 7 knots |
| Complement: | 62 |
| Armament: |
|
USS General Putnam (1857) – also known as the USS William G. Putnam – was acquired by the Union Navy during the first year of the American Civil War and outfitted as a gunship and assigned to the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. She also served as a tugboat and as a ship's tender when so required.
The Navy purchased William G. Putnam, a wooden-hulled tug built in 1857 at Brooklyn, New York, on 24 July 1861 at New York City and renamed the vessel General Putnam soon thereafter. The vessel's name later returned to William G. Putnam while in the service of the U.S. Navy.
On 13 September 1861, with Acting Master William J. Hotchkiss in command, William G. Putnam departed New York, bound for Washington, D.C., and arrived at the Washington Navy Yard three days later. On the night of the 17th, she headed down river to join the Potomac Flotilla but the next day was ordered to join the Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, where she arrived on 23 September. Within a few days, the armed tug began operating off the North Carolina coast where her initial duty was to reconnoiter Ocracoke Inlet.
She also patrolled off Hatteras Inlet and assisted in the sinking of three stone-laden schooners in an attempt to help tighten the blockade by impeding navigation and obstructing the inlets in the area. On 29 October 1861, the Navy Department divided the Atlantic Blockading Squadron into the North and South commands, and allocated William G. Putnam to the newly established North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. The vessel continued to operate primarily in the waters of North Carolina.
...
Wikipedia