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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Wateree (I)


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Sassacus Class Sidewheel Gunboat:
  • Built at Chester, PA., by Reaney Son & Archbold
  • Launched on 12 August 1863
  • Commissioned USS Wateree at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, 20 January 1864, CDR. F. E. Murray in command
  • During the Civil War USS Wateree was assigned to the Pacific Squadron patrolling off the coast of Central America from February 1865
  • Reassigned to the South Pacific Squadron in 1866, to patrol the coasts of Central and South America
  • Driven ashore by a Tsunami at Arica, Peru, 15 August 1868, 500 feet above high water mark, damaged beyond economical repair
  • Decommissioned, date unknown
  • Final Disposition, sold, 21 November 1868, to Mr. William Parker. Hulk converted to living spaces ashore and served as an inn for many years.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,173 t.(lt) 973 t.(fl)
    Length 205'
    Beam 35'
    Draft 9'
    Depth 11' 6"
    Speed 10 kts
    Complement 154
    Armament
    two 100-pdr Parrott rifles
    four 9" Dalghren smoothbores
    four 24-pdr howitzers
    two 13-pdrs
    two heavy 12-pdr rifles
    Propulsion steam
    twi sidewheels

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    Size Image Description Source
    Sassacus (I)
    098635505
    85k Generic lithograph representing the Sassacus-class gunboats.
    Wikipedia
    John Spivey
    Wateree 116k USS Wateree beached at Arica, Chile, 430 yards above the usual high water mark, after she was deposited there by a tidal wave, 13 August 1868. Her iron hull was reasonably intact, but salvage was not economical, and she was sold where she lay.
    US Navy photo NH 43999, courtesy of Murray Greene Day.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command
    Wateree 140k USS Wateree stranded at Arica, Chile, after she was washed ashore by the 13 August 1868 tidal wave. The Peruvian corvette America is partially visible in the distance.
    US Navy photo NH 43759, courtesy of Mrs. A.B. Hendrickson, from the collection of her father, the late Rear Admiral Luther G. Billings.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command
    Wateree 83k USS Wateree beached at Arica, Chile, after she was washed ashore by a tidal wave on 13 August 1868. Partially dismasted ship stranded in the left distance is the Peruvian warship America.
    US Navy photo NH 42226, a halftone image, copied from the U.S. Naval Institute "Proceedings", July 1926, page 1323.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command
    Wateree 110k Painting in primitive style, depicting USS Wateree stranded at Arica, Chile, after she was washed ashore by a tidal wave on 13 August 1868.
    US Navy photo NH 42227, courtesy of Mrs. A.B. Hendrickson, from the collection of her father, the late Rear Admiral Luther G. Billings.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command
    Wateree 81k The remains of the USS Wateree's boilers on the shore north of Arica, Chile.
    Photo taken on 14 January 2003 by Pinot (real name unknown).
    Robert Hurst

    USS Wateree (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 12 August 2022