USS Indianola (1862)
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| History | |
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| Commissioned: | January, 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | sold 1865 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 511 tons |
| Length: | 174 ft (53 m) |
| Beam: | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Draft: | 5 ft (1.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sidewheel, Steam-driven screw |
| Speed: | 9 knots |
| Armament: |
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USS Indianola, an ironclad river gunboat propelled by both side wheels and screw propellers, was built in Cincinnati, Ohio by Joseph Brown. She had 3 inch iron armor plate over 3 feet thick wooden hull.
The danger that Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, whose troops had reached Covington, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River, would capture Cincinnati, prompted Major General Lew Wallace to take Indianola from the contractor before completion 2 September 1862 and have her launched 2 days later. Acting Master Edward Shaw was placed in command of the ship 18 September, and she was reported in commission 9 days later.
Indianola was "armed and ready to defend Cincinnati" by 23 October—but was not completed. When ready for general service several weeks later, the water level in the Ohio had fallen too much for her to get over the falls at Louisville. She finally arrived at Cairo, Illinois and joined the Mississippi Squadron on 23 January 1863. She served briefly in the Mississippi and the Yazoo Rivers before running past the Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi to join the USS Queen of the West in an effort to stop the Confederate flow of supplies from the Red River.
She left her anchorage in the Yazoo River at 10:15 p.m., 13 February, and moved slowly downstream until the first gun was fired at her from the Vicksburg cliffs slightly more than an hour later. She then raced ahead at full speed until out of range of the Confederate cannon, which thundered at her from above. She anchored for the night 4 miles below Warrenton, Mississippi, and early the next morning got underway down river.
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Wikipedia