USS Kansas (1863)
USS Kansas on the James River, Virginia, circa February–April 1865. Note her white smokestack, and three officers seated on shore.
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| History | |
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  United States
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| Namesake: | the Kansas River, which is formed by the confluence of the Republican and Smoky Hill Rivers at Junction City and northeastern Kansas |
| Builder: | Philadelphia Navy Yard |
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 29 September 1863 |
| Commissioned: | 21 December 1863 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Decommissioned: | 10 August 1875 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire |
| Struck: | 1866 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold 27 September 1883 at Rockland, Maine |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 625 tons |
| Length: | 129 ft 6 in (39.47 m) |
| Beam: | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
| Draught: | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam engine, screw propelled |
| Speed: | 12 knots |
| Complement: | 108 |
| Armament: |
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USS Kansas (1863) was a gunboat constructed for the Union Navy during the middle of the American Civil War. She was outfitted with heavy guns and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named Kansas and was the first of a class of 836-ton screw steam gunboats, At war’s end, she continued serving her country by performing survey work and defending American interests in Cuba until sold in 1883.
Kansas was built at Philadelphia Navy Yard with machinery taken from the cargo of prize steamer Princess Royal. She was launched 29 September 1863; sponsored by Miss Annie McClellan; and commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 21 December 1863, Lieutenant Commander Pendleton G. Watmough in command.
On the day of her commissioning, the gunboat was ordered to Hampton Roads, Virginia to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. She arrived Newport News, Virginia, 30 December; but engine and boiler trouble required her to return to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs.
In March 1864 the gunboat was stationed at Wilmington, North Carolina, off New Inlet, where she served during most of the remainder of the war. With Mount Vernon, Howquah, and Nansemond, she engaged Confederate ironclad-ram Raleigh, (Flag Officer William Lynch) which had steamed over the bar at New Inlet 6 May to attack the Northern blockaders.
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Wikipedia