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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Tallapoosa (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Sassacus Class Sidewheel Steamer:

Laid down, date unknown, as a wooden-hulled steamer at New York Navy Yard by C. W. Booz of Baltimore, MD.

Launched, 17 February 1863

Commissioned USS Tallapoosa, 13 September 1864, LCDR. Joseph E. DeHaven in command

Assigned to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron

Following the Civil War USS Tallapoosa was assigned to the Gulf Squadron

Laid up in 1867 at Washington Navy Yard

Reactivated in 1869

Assigned as training ship at the US Naval Academy Annapolis, MD. in 1872

Redesignated a transport in 1873

Rebuilt at Baltimore in 1874-1875, configured as a single-ender to serve as a dispatch vessel until 1884

Sunk by collision, 24 August 1884, off Vineyard Haven, R.I. with the schooner J. S. Lowell

Raised and repaired by Merritt Wrecking Co.

Recommissioned, 11 January 1886, at New York Navy Yard

Assigned to the South Atlantic Squadron, 7 June 1886

Condemned as unfit for further service, 30 January 1892

Sold at public auction at Montevideo, Uruguay, 3 March 1892

Final Disposition, fate unknown

Specifications:
Displacement 974 t.
Length 205'
Beam 35'
Depth 11' 6"
Draft 6' 6"
Speed 11.5 kts
Complement 190
Armament

two 100-pdr Parrott rifles

four 9" Dahlgren smoothbores

two 20-pdr Parrott rifles

two 24-pdr howitzers

Propulsion steam

two sidewheels

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
098635505	85k	Generic lithograph representing the Sassacus-class gunboats. Wikipedia	John Spivey
	85k	A wash drawing by Clary Ray, circa 1900, depicting the wooden-hulled double-ended steamer USS Tallapoosa as she appeared during the Civil War. Courtesy of the US Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 270.	Robert Hurst
	125k	USS Tallapoosa Ship's officers, 1873. Her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant David G. McRitchie, is seated in the center. Photo courtesy of Admiral William D. Leahy, December 1938. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42232.	Robert Hurst
	76k	USS Tallapoosa tied up at the Sheer Wharf, Boston Navy Yard, circa 1876, after she was reconstructed. Note the sheer legs on the wharf, and the sterns of USS Wabash and USS Ohio at the left. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42479, courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation.	Robert Hurst
	106k	USS Tallapoosa after reconstruction, circa 1874-1884. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 43864.	Robert Hurst
	79k	Lithograph after a drawing by Joseph L. Jones, circa 1877-1880 depicting a Naval Review in Hampton-Roads, VA. dedicated to Secretary of the Navy Richard W. Thompson. Ships present include (from left): USS Marion, USS Tallapoosa (flying the Secretary of the Navy's Flag), USS Constitution, USS Kearsarge, USS Saratoga, USS Powhatan, USS Portsmouth and USS Minnesota. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 61193. Courtesy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936.	Robert Hurst
	892k	USS Tallapoosa, right and USS Despatch, left, at Bar Harbor, ME., 10 September 1882, during the visit to Bar Harbor by then President Chester Arthur. Photo courtesy Maine Historical Preservation Commission.	Jonathan Eno
	107k	Starboard quarter view of USS Tallapoosa anchored at an unknown location probably from the mid to late 1880’s. Library of Congress photo # LC-D4-20105	Mike Green
098604910	193k	Ships in the harbor at Portsmouth, N.H., 1 August 1884, including those returning from the rescue of LT. A.W. Greely, U.S. Army, and other survivors, of the Greely Relief Expedition. Left to right; USS Tallapoosa, USS Alliance, USS Thetis, USS Bear, and USS Alert. The latter three ships participated in the expedition. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # USN 900699.	Robert Hurst
	93k	USS Nina salvaging the wreck of USS Tallapoosa sunk in Martha’s Vineyard Sound, circa 1884-1885. US Navy photo	Robert Hurst
	161k	USS Tallapoosa in drydock, probably at the New York Navy Yard in 1884 or 1885, showing damage received, 24 August 1884, when she was sunk in a collision with the schooner *James S. Lowell. The view looks toward her starboard side, just forward of the midships superstructure. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42231*.	Robert Hurst
	96k	USS Tallapoosa at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, MA., circa 1886, following her final rebuilding. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 43865.	Robert Hurst
	173k	After she was rebuilt as "single-ender" USS Tallapoosa resembled one of the era's commercial steamers more than she did a warship. The vessel still had the provision of sail power.	Tommy Trampp
	63k	A view of the waterfront at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, circa 1886, with the floating drydock at left. Ships present are (from left to right): USS Constellation; USS Dale; USS Tallapoosa; and USS Constitution (housed over). Photo courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, 1971. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo #: NH 58947	Robert Hurst