USS Stettin (1861)

The Stettin was captured by the Union side wheel steamer USS Bienville on 24 May 1862 northeast of Charleston Bar while attempting to break through the Federal blockade of Charleston, South Carolina. The blockade runner had been attempting to slip into Charleston with saltpeter, lead, quinine, and assorted cargo from the Bahamas. Condemned by the New York Prize Court, the steamer was purchased by the United States Navy on 4 September, and placed in commission as USS Stettin in November. Acting Master Edward F. Devens was in command.

Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Stettin arrived at Port Royal, South Carolina, on 24 November 1862, and was sent back to the waters off Charleston to help enforce the blockade. While so assigned, she captured, or had a role in capturing or destroying, four would be blockade runners. On 28 March 1863, she captured Memphis, and Ottawa shelled steamer Havelock as the blockade runner raced past them off Charleston on 11 June. Their guns damaged Havelock so severely that she ran aground on Folly Island where she was seen at daybreak ablaze. She was later reported to be a total wreck. The Stettin operated successfully against the steamer Diamond on 23 September 1863 to achieve a fourth victory.

USS Stettin left the war zone late in the conflict and was decommissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 6 April 1865. She was sold at a public auction on 22 June to Richard Baker Jr, and renamed Sheridan. She was stranded on 24 September 1866.

• List of United States Navy ships
• Blockade runners of the American Civil War
• Blockade mail of the Confederacy

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

• Stettin (English Steamship, 1861) - Served as USS Stettin in 1862-1865