USS Itasca (1861)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 1 October 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 28 November 1861 |
| Decommissioned: | 22 August 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold, 30 November 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Unadilla-class gunboat |
| Displacement: | 691 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 507 |
| Length: | 158 ft (48 m) (waterline) |
| Beam: | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) (max.) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × 200 IHP 30-in bore by 18 in stroke horizontal back-acting engines; single screw |
| Sail plan: | Two-masted schooner |
| Speed: | 10 kn (11.5 mph) |
| Complement: | 114 |
| Armament: |
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USS Itasca was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for the U.S. 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.
Itasca was a wooden screw steamer launched by Hillman & Streaker at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1 October 1861; and commissioned there 28 November 1861, Lt. C. H. B. Caldwell in command.
Assigned to the Gulf Blockading Squadron, Itasca promptly began to establish a distinguished record. She captured schooner Lizzie Weston loaded with cotton bound for Jamaica 19 January 1862. A month later she assisted Brooklyn in capturing Confederate steamer Magnolia loaded with cotton and carrying several secret letters containing valuable intelligence concerning Confederate plans to import arms and to assist side-wheel, blockade runner CSS Tennessee to escape through the blockade.
When the Gulf Blockading Squadron was split 20 January 1862, Itasca was assigned to the Western Squadron under Flag Officer David Farragut, who stationed her briefly at Mobile, Alabama, and then called her to the mouth of the Mississippi River 4 March 1862 for service in the impending operations against New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Mississippi River Valley.
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