USS Huntsville (1861)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
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| Builder: | J. A. Westervelt (New York) |
| Launched: | 10 Dec 1857 |
| Completed: | Jan 1858 |
| Acquired: | 24 April 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 9 May 1861 |
| Decommissioned: | 5 April 1862 |
| In service: | Jan 1858–1877 |
| Out of service: | 28 August 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold, 30 November 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 860 tons |
| Length: | 196 ft 4 in (59.84 m) |
| Beam: | 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m) |
| Draft: | 19 ft 5 in (5.92 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 11 knots |
| Complement: | 64 |
| Armament: |
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USS Huntsville was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
Huntsville, a wooden screw steamer, was built in New York City by J. A. Westervelt for H. B. Cromwell & Co., who intended to run her as a passenger steamer between New York and Savannah, Georgia. Huntsville was launched on 10 December 1857, and was in operation on her intended route by January of the following year.
With the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Hunstsville was chartered from her owner, H. B. Cromwell & Co., in New York City 24 April 1861; commissioned there 9 May 1861, Commander Cicero Price in command; and purchased by the Navy 24 August 1861 while on active duty.
Huntsville sailed for Key West, Florida, arriving 11 May 1861, and joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron. In early August she steamed from the Florida coast westward and almost immediately captured two small schooners off Mobile, Alabama. She cruised on blockade duty from Alabama to Texas, and on 24 December she engaged Florida off Mobile Bay. Following an hour-long gun battle, she turned the blockade runner back into Mobile.
Huntsville returned to New York in the spring of 1862, and she decommissioned 5 April. She recommissioned 11 June, Lt. Howard Rogers in command, and returned to blockade duty along the U.S. Gulf Coast. By the end of July she had taken three prizes, Confederate steamers Adela and Reliance and British schooner Agnes, carrying cargoes of cotton, rosin, and other commodities. Before the end of the year, she captured two additional blockade runners, schooners Courier and Ariel, trying to run into Mobile with cargoes of lead, tin, medicines, wines, and coffee.
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