USS Kanawha (1861)
Lithograph by Shearman & Hart, New York, circa 1861, entitled "U.S. Steam Gun Boat Kanawha. Built by C.E. & W.H. Goodspeed. East Haddam, Connecticut".
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Kanawha |
| Namesake: | Kanawha River |
| Builder: | G. B. & W. H. Goodspeed, East Haddam, Connecticut |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 21 October 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 21 January 1862 at the New York Navy Yard |
| Decommissioned: | 5 July 1865 |
| Struck: | 1866 (est.) |
| Fate: | Sold at New York City 13 June 1866 |
| 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 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 114 |
| Armament: |
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USS Kanawha was a Unadilla-class gunboat built for 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.
Kanawha was launched on 21 October 1861 by G. B. & W. H. Goodspeed, East Haddam, Connecticut; and commissioned at New York Navy Yard on 21 January 1862, Lt. John C. Febiger in command.
Assigned to the Gulf Blockading Squadron, the new gunboat arrived off Pass a l'Outre, Louisiana, on 13 February, and a week later was ordered to take station off Mobile, Alabama, where she soon distinguished herself for vigilance.
She drew first blood with a vengeance on 10 April by capturing four blockade-running schooners in a single day: Southern Independence, Victoria, Charlotte, and Cuba. The first three had attempted to slip to sea laden with cotton and naval stores while the latter had tried to run into Mobile, Alabama, with supplies badly needed by the South.
Thereafter, her kills were frequent. She caught schooner R. C. Files carrying cotton out of Mobile on 21 April and took British sloop Annie on the 29th between Ship Island and Mobile headed for Cuba. On 17 November near Mobile she and Kennebec chased an unidentified schooner ashore where she was set afire by her crew. Then the guns of the Union ships assured her complete destruction by preventing Confederate coast guards from boarding her to extinguish the flames.
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Wikipedia