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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Nina

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Spanish Campaign Medal
District Harbor Tug (Palos Class Screw Steamer):
  • Laid down in 1864 as the 4th rate iron screw steamer Nina at Reaney, Son, and Archbold, Chester, PA.
  • Launched, 27 May 1865
  • Delivered at New York Navy Yard, 26 September 1865,
  • Placed in service as a yard tug at Washington Navy Yard, 6 January 1866, ENS. F. C. Hall commanding that ship and sister tugs Primrose and Rescue
  • Converted to a Torpedo Boat, commissioned USS Nina, 31 March 1870, LT. Godfrey Hunter in command
  • Reassigned to Newport, R.I. in April 1870
  • Refitted in May 1884 for special service as a salvage ship
  • Reassigned to New York Navy Yard in 1885
  • Reassigned to Newport in 1890
  • Reassigned to New York Navy Yard in 1892 as a yard tug
  • Commissioned as a tender and supply vessel to the Torpedo Boat Flotilla, 1902
  • Decommissioned, at New York, 21 March 1903
  • Loaned to the Lighthouse service from October 1903 to April 1904
  • Returned to US Navy custody and recommissioned, 9 September 1905
  • Converted to a Submarine Tender in 1906, assigned to the Newport Torpedo Station
  • Final Disposition, At 0630, 6 February 1910, Nina departed Norfolk for Boston and was last sighted off the Capes of the Chesapeake in the midst of a gale. She was never heard from again. She sunk at Fenwick Island Shoals, near the state of Delaware on the 6th. Nina was declared lost and struck from the Navy List 15 March 1910, the 30 crewmen and one officer on board being listed as having died on that day. Her loss is one of the continuing mysteries of the sea.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 420t.
    Length 137' 0"
    Beam 26'
    Draft 9' 10"
    Speed 10 kts
    Complement unknown
    Armament unknown
    Fuel Capacity unknown
    Propulsion
    Steam, single propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Nina 93k USS Nina salvaging the wreck of sidewheel gunboat USS Tallapoosa sunk in Martha’s Vineyard Sound, circa 1885 to 1889. Nina was sunk at Fenwick Island Shoals, near the state of Delaware,6 February 1910..
    US Navy photo     		Robert Hurst
    Nina 123k USS Nina in dry dock at the New York Navy Yard, 9 August 1905. Note the eagle over the pilot house, a feature of many American civilian tugs at this time. The schooner rig has been removed.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo # NH 44705    		 Mike Green
    USS Nina
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Submarine Tenders of the United States Navy
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 30 August 2013