USS Victoria (1855)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 1855 |
| Acquired: | 26 December 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 13 March 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | 4 May 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Fate: | sold, 30 November 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 254 tons |
| Length: | 113' |
| Beam: | 22' |
| Draught: | depth of hold 10' 6" |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 12 knots |
| Complement: | not known |
| Armament: |
|
USS Victoria (1855) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
Victoria was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
Victoria—a wooden steamer built at Kensington, Pennsylvania, in 1855—was purchased by the Union Navy at New York City on 26 December 1861 for blockade duty during the Civil War; and was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 13 March 1862, Lt. Comdr. George A. Stevens in command.
Upon her commissioning, Victoria was assigned to Rear Admiral Louis M. Goldsborough's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and left New York, bound for Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 17 March 1862.
She arrived there on the 20th, reconnoitered the mouth of the Rappahannock River, Virginia, from the 25th to the 31st, and towed the gunboat Chocura to the Baltimore, Maryland, Navy Yard, on 2 April. She returned to Hampton Roads, Virginia, on the 4th but, on the 17th, was ordered to join the blockade off Wilmington, North Carolina.
Victoria operated exclusively in the coastal waters, sounds, rivers, and inlets of North Carolina during the remainder of her active naval career. In company with other Union blockaders, she compiled an impressive list of prizes but often failed to capture sighted blockade runners because of her greatly inferior speed and generally poor condition.
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