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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Tahoma (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Unadilla Class Screw Gunboat:
  • Built in 1861 at Wilmington, DE. by W. and A. Thatcher as wooden-hulled, 4th rate screw gunboat
  • Launched on 2 October 1861
  • Commissioned, USS Tahoma, 20 December 1861, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, LCDR. John C. Howell in command
  • During the Civil War USS Tahoma was assigned to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron
    Tahoma remained with this force for her entire career through the Civil War
    Decommissioned, 23 July 1864, at New York Navy Yard, for repairs
    Recommissioned, 13 April 1865
    Decommissioned, 27 July 1865
  • Recommissioned in the fall of 1866, assigned to the Gulf Squadron
  • Decommissioned, 27 August 1867
  • Struck from the Naval Register and sold, 7 October 1867, at New York
    Specifications:
    Displacement 507 t.
    Length 158' 8"
    Beam 28'
    Depth of Hold 12'
    Draft 10' 6"
    Speed 9 kts
    Complement 114 officers and enlisted
    Armament
    one 11" Dahlgren smoothbore
    one 20-pdr Parrott rifle
    two 24-pdr howitzers
    Propulsion
    rigged as a two masted schooner
    two 200 imp 30" stroke horizontal back-acting engines
    single screw
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Tahoma 86k Wash drawing by R.G. Skerrett, 1903, depicting USS Tahoma as she was during the Civil War.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 57826. Courtesy of the US Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.    		 USNHHC
    USS Tahoma (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR. Howell, John Cumming20 December 1861 - 24 December 1862
    02LCDR. Semmes, Alexander A.24 December 1862 - 1 January 1864
    03LCDR. Harmony, David B.15 January 1864 - 23 July 1864
     Decommissioned23 July 1864 - 13 April 1865
    04LCDR. McCann, William P.13 April 1865 - 27 July 1865
     Decommissioned27 July 1865
    05LCDR. Gibson, William1866 - 27 August 1867
    Courtesy Bill Gonyo
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 16 November 2012