USS Columbia (1862)

USS Columbia (1862) was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Columbia.
History
United States
Name: USS Columbia
Laid down: date unknown
Launched: date unknown
Acquired: 4 November 1862
Commissioned: December 1862
Out of service: 14 January 1863
Stricken: 1863 (est.)
Captured: by Union Navy forces, 3 August 1862
Fate: Ran aground, 14 January 1863
General characteristics
Type: Patrol boat
Displacement: 503 long tons (511 t)
Length: 168 ft (51 m)
Beam: 25 ft (7.6 m)
Draft: 14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: Unknown
Complement: 100
Armament: 6 × 24-pounder smoothbore guns, 1 × 30-pounder rifle

Captured by the Union Navy and placed into service

Columbia, a screw steamer was captured on 3 August 1862 by Santiago de Cuba while running the blockade off the coast of Florida; purchased by the Navy from the Key West, Florida Prize Court on 4 November 1862; outfitted at New York Navy Yard; and commissioned sometime in December, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Joseph Pitty Couthouy in command.

Wrecked while assigned to serve in the North Atlantic Blockade

While serving with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Wilmington, North Carolina, Columbia ran aground and was wrecked off Masonboro Inlet on 14 January 1863.

Crew and commanding officer captured by Confederate forces

Forty men of her crew — including her commanding officer — were captured by the Confederates.

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

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