USS Gettysburg (1858)
USS Gettysburg during Mediterranean service, 1870s
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| History | |
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| Name: |
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| Builder: | Robert Napier & Sons' Govan |
| Laid down: | 1858 |
| Launched: | 1858 |
| Acquired: | by capture, 5 November 1863 |
| Commissioned: | 2 May 1864 |
| Decommissioned: | 6 May 1879 |
| Fate: | Sold, Genoa, Italy, 8 May 1879 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Sidewheel gunboat |
| Displacement: | 950 long tons (970 t) |
| Length: | 221 ft (67 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
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| Complement: | 96 officers and men |
| Armament: | 1 × 30-pounder Parrott rifle, 2 × 12-pounder rifles, 4 × 24-pounder howitzers |
The first USS Gettysburg was a steamer in the Union Navy.
The ship was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1858, named Douglas, and operated for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company between Liverpool, United Kingdom and Douglas on the Isle of Man until November 1862. She was then sold to the Confederacy, renamed Margaret and Jessie, and operated as a blockade runner until her capture by the Union on 5 November 1863. The ship was renamed Gettysburg, and commissioned into the Union Navy on 2 May 1864.
During her military service, Gettysburg operated with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, was involved in both the first and second attacks on Fort Fisher, helped lay telegraph cables between Key West and Havana and undertook navigational surveys of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.
Gettysburg was decommissioned on 6 May 1879 and sold two days later.
Due to increasing passenger traffic between the Isle of Man and England, it was decided in 1858 that a larger, faster ship would be ordered for the packet fleet. During trials, she achieved 17.75 kn (20.43 mph; 32.87 km/h), and was declared the fastest Channel Steamer in existence during the period. In November 1858, she was sold to Cunard, Wilson & Co, on behalf of the Confederate agents, Fraser, Trenholm & Co. She was renamed Margaret and Jessie and sailed in gray livery for the Confederate States.
Margaret and Jessie was captured as a blockade runner on 5 November 1863 by Army transport Fulton, Keystone State, and Nansemond off Wilmington, North Carolina. She was purchased from the New York Prize Court by the Navy and commissioned Gettysburg at New York Navy Yard on 2 May 1864, Lieutenant Roswell Lamson commanding.
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