|
The very first USS ''Hatteras'' was a 1,126-ton steamer purchased by the Union Navy at the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the Union blockade of the ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America. During an engagement with the disguised Confederate commerce raider, CSS ''Alabama'', she was taken by surprise and was sunk off the coast of Galveston, Texas. The wreck site is one of the few listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its location away from destructive surf and because of the ship's side-wheel design, which marks the transition between wooden sailing ships and steam-powered ships. ''Hatteras'' (formerly ''St. Mary'') was purchased by the U. S. Navy from Harlan and Hollingsworth of Wilmington, Delaware on 25 September 1861. She was fitted out at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and commissioned in October 1861, Commander George F. Emmons in command. ==Civil War service== ''Hatteras'' sailed for Key West, Florida on 5 November 1861, arriving there on 13 November to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron to choke off the South's economic lifeline as part of president Lincoln's Anaconda Plan. After blockade duty off Apalachicola, Florida, she was reassigned to Cedar Key, Florida, reaching there on 7 January 1862. Nine days later, ''Hatteras'' made a highly successful raid on the Cedar Keys harbor, burning seven small would-be blockade runners loaded with turpentine and cotton at the Florida Railroad wharf (an important Southern railroad terminus), several flat-cars, and various buildings. To cap this day's work, ''Hatteras'' also captured 14 of the 22-man garrison stationed there, including their commanding officer. Such unceasing attack from the sea on any point along her long coastline and inland waterways cost the South dearly in losses, economic disruption, and dispersion of defense strength. After this exploit, ''Hatteras'' was transferred to the Gulf Blockading Squadron and arrived off Berwick, Louisiana on 26 January. The next day, she engaged CSS ''Mobile'', but failed to do any serious damage when the light-draft ship withdrew to the safety of shallow water. Nevertheless, the Gulf of Mexico proved to be a profitable hunting ground for ''Hatteras'', as in less than a year, she captured seven blockade runners with assorted cargos of cotton, sugar, and other goods the South was desperately striving to export for gold or much needed trade goods. These captures netted ''Hatteras'', among other things, some 534 bales of valuable cotton. Commander Emmons stationed four of his own men on board one prize ship, the sloop ''Poody'', and rechristened her ''Hatteras Jr''., turning the erstwhile blockade runner into a unit of the Union's Gulf Blockading Squadron. Other Confederate ships taken by ''Hatteras'' as prizes included: steamer ''Indian No. 2'', ''schooner'' ''Magnolia'', steamer ''Governor A. Mouton'', schooner ''Sarah'', sloop ''Elizabeth'', and brig ''Josephine''. The majority of these ships were captured off Vermilion Bay, Louisiana, as they ran toward either Havana, Cuba, or the Sabine River area of Texas. However, her illustrious career was cut short in early 1863, not long after she was ordered to join the blockading squadron under Rear Admiral David Farragut, who was attempting to retake the key Texas port of Galveston. Under a new skipper, Commander Homer C. Blake, who had relieved Captain Emmons in November 1862, ''Hatteras'' joined Farragut's squadron off Galveston on 6 January 1863. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Hatteras (1861)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|