USS Shamrock (1863)
| History | |||
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  United States
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| Laid down: | date unknown | ||
| Launched: |
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| Commissioned: | 13 June 1864 | ||
| Decommissioned: |
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| In service: | 17 October 1865 | ||
| Out of service: | 10 August 1868 | ||
| Struck: | 1868 (est.) | ||
| Fate: | sold on 1 September 1868 | ||
| General characteristics | |||
| Displacement: | 974 tons | ||
| Length: | 205 ft (62 m) | ||
| Beam: | 35 ft (11 m) | ||
| Draft: | 8 ft 10 in (2.69 m) | ||
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft (3.7 m) | ||
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 13 knots | ||
| Complement: | 160 | ||
| Armament: |
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USS Shamrock (1863) was a large (974 ton) seaworthy steamer with powerful guns, acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
During the war, she participated in the operation of placing a spar torpedo into the dreaded CSS Albemarle, allowing Shamrock to sail on with the Union fleet to attack and capture Plymouth, North Carolina. After the war, she served in the Caribbean and voyaged to Europe prior to final decommissioning.
Shamrock -- a double-ended side wheel gunboat built at the New York Navy Yard -- was launched on St. Patrick's Day, 17 March 1863; sponsored by. Miss Sallie Bryant, daughter of Mr. William Cullen Bryant; and commissioned on 13 June 1864, Cdr. William H. Macomb in command.
The next day, Shamrock was ordered to proceed directly to the sounds of North Carolina for duty in that area as part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. At that time, Union naval forces in the sounds were threatened by the Confederate ironclad ram, Albemarle, which in April had sunk Union side wheel steamer, USS Southfield, and had enabled Southern forces to recapture Plymouth, North Carolina.
On the 20th, Shamrock reached Hatteras Inlet where orders awaited her to enter Albemarle Sound and take station off the mouth of the Roanoke River to guard against the reappearance of the formidable Rebel ram. For the next four months, Shamrock's operations concentrated on protecting Union shipping from Albemarle, which was undergoing repairs up the Roanoke River.
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