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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Circassian

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Screw Steamer:

An iron screw steamer built by Robert Hickson, Belfast, Ireland, 350nhp engine by Randolph Elder & Co., Glasgow, Scotland

Launched, 18 July 1856

Captured, 4 May 1862 by USS Somerset

Purchased from the prize court at Key West, FL., 8 November 1862

Fitted out at New York Navy Yard

Commissioned USS Circassian, 12 December 1862, Acting Volunteer LT. W. B. Eaton in, command

USS Circassian served as supply ship for the East and West Gulf Blockading Squadrons from 17 December 1862 to 11 April 1865

During this period Circassian captured two prizes and participated in the search for the Confederate steamer Florida in July 1864

Decommissioned, 26 April 1865, at Boston Navy Yard

Sold 22 June 1865

1874 engines removed and converted to sailing vessel (rigged as a Barque)

Final Disposition, wrecked at Bridgehampton, Long Island in 1876, no lives lost <

Specifications:
Displacement 1,750 t.
Length 255'
Beam 39.1'
Depth of Hold unknown
Draft 18'
Speed unknown
Complement unknown

Armament

one 100-pdr rifle

one 24-pdr rifle

Propulsion

boiler(s)

one Randolph Elder & Co., Glasgow, Scotland 360nph steam engine

single propeller

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Contributed By
098651101	153k	Watercolor by Erik Heyl, 1951 of blockade runner SS Circassian underway. US Naval History and Heritage Command Catalog # NH 63870 "Early American Steamers, vol. I" by Erik Heyl, 1951., Courtesy of Erik Heyl		US Naval History and Heritage Command
	82k	"Our Prize Fleet, consisting of British Vessels captured while trying to run the Blockade." Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1862 volume. It depicts (from left to right) the blockade runners *Petrel, Memphis, Elizabeth, Ella Warly, Patras, Alliance, Ann, Stettin, Circassian* and *Tubal Cain. Three of these vessels, Memphis, Stettin* and *Circassian* later served in the U.S. Navy. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59365.		US Naval History and Heritage Command

USS Circassian
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 17 March 2023