USS Neptune (1863)

USS Neptune was a large steamer, with powerful guns and a large crew, acquired by the United States Navy for service with the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She served the Navy primarily, as an armed escort vessel in the West Indies for Union Navy and commercial ships traveling through that area on their way to and from California.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Neptune.
Allegany (formerly USS Neptune) in postwar merchant service
History
Union Navy Jack United States
NameUSS Neptune
NamesakePrevious name retained
Launched11 Feb 1863
Acquired17 July 1863
Commissioned19 December 1863
Decommissioned31 May 1865
Fate
  • Sold 12 July 1865
  • Stranded 5 December 1865
General characteristics
Displacement1,244 long tons (1,264 t)
Length209 ft (64 m)
Beam34 ft 6 in (10.52 m)
Depth of hold20 ft 8 in (6.30 m)
Propulsion
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement173
Armament
  • one 100-pounder gun
  • two 30-pounder Parrott rifles
  • eight 32-pounder guns
Armorwood

Acquisition and commissioning

Neptune, a wooden steamer, was purchased by the U.S. Navy at New York City on 17 July 1863 from William P. Williamson of the Neptune Steamship Company. She was delivered to the United States Government at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, on 3 September 1863, and was commissioned there on 19 December 1863.

Service history

Assigned to the West India Squadron, Neptune departed New York City on 9 January 1864 and operated principally in convoying steamers bound for California through the West Indies. At the end of the American Civil War in 1865, she returned to New York City, where she was decommissioned on 31 May 1865.

Fate

Neptune was sold at auction at New York City on 12 July 1865 to John Henderson. She operated briefly in commercial service before being stranded in fog off Long Island, New York, on 5 December 1865.[1]

See also

References

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

  1. Gaines, W. Craig, Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks, Louisiana State University Press, 2008 Archived 2010-11-29 at the Wayback Machine, ISBN 978-0-8071-3274-6, p. 110.
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