USS Potomska (1861)
| History | |
|---|---|
 
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| Name: | USS Potomska |
| Acquired: | by purchase, 25 September 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 20 December 1861 |
| Decommissioned: | 16 June 1865 |
| Fate: | Sold at auction, 10 August 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Wooden screw steamer rigged as a three masted schooner |
| Displacement: | 287 long tons (292 t) |
| Length: | 134 ft 6 in (41.00 m) |
| Beam: | 27 ft (8.2 m) |
| Draft: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 95 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Potomska was a wooden screw steamer rigged as a three masted schooner purchased at New York City from H. Haldrege on 25 September 1861. She was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 20 December 1861.
Upon commissioning she was ordered to Port Royal, South Carolina, for duty with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Potomska assisted in covering the landing of U.S. troops at the mouth of the Savannah River, Georgia, 28 January 1862. She was in the squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont that took possession of Fernandina, Florida on 4 March 1862. On 9 March, with USS Mohican and USS Pocahontas, she took possession of St. Simons Island and Jekyl Island and landed at Brunswick, Georgia. All locations were found to be abandoned in keeping with the general Confederate withdrawal from the seacoast and coastal islands.
On 11 April Potomska was involved in an expedition to St. Catherine's Sound, Georgia. On 27 April she ascended the Riceboro River, Georgia, inducing the Confederates to fire a British brig, then exchanged fire with dismounted Confederate cavalry concealed in the woods of Woodville Island, effectively silencing them. She was involved in an expedition to Darien, Georgia on 9 May, and made a reconnaissance in Great Ogeechee River, Georgia, 1 July, exchanging fire with a Confederate battery there. Potomska was briefly decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in August for repairs.
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