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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Young America

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Screw Tug:
  • Built in 1855 at New York City
  • Confederate tug captured by Union sloop-of-war USS Cumberland, in Hampton Roads
  • Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in late July 1861, at Hampton Roads for patrol and reconnaissance assignments
  • Commissioned USS Young America, 26 February 1862
  • Young America performed invaluable service to the squadron during engagements with CSS Virginia (the former Federal screw frigate Merrimack), 8 and 9 March 1862
  • Towed USS Roanoke, 8 March 1862, to an anchorage off Sewell's Point, Va., enabling the frigate to bombard Confederate batteries ashore
  • Refloated the grounded Union frigate, USS St. Lawrence, 9 March 1862, jockeying the vessel into firing position against CSS Virginia
  • Rescued crew of Union gunboat USS Whitehall when fire destroyed that vessel, 10 March 1862
  • Rescued personnel on board Henry Adams, grounded at Nag's Head, N.C., 26 August 1862
  • Purchased by the Navy from the Boston prize court, 7 January 1864
  • USS Young America remained with the James River Squadron, Fourth Division, until the end of the war
  • Decommissioned, 9 June 1865, at Norfolk Navy Yard
  • Sold at public auction at New York City, 12 July 1865 to Camden & Amboy Railroad Co.
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 173 t.
    Length unknown
    Beam unknown
    Draft 10' 6"
    Speed 9.5 kts
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    one 30-pdr Parrott rifle
    one 32-pdr
    one 12-pdr rifle
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Cohasset I
    098653601    		 77k Sketch by artist Alfred R. Waud, 1828-1891, of broadside views of USS Whitehead, Cohasset, and USS Young America, circa 1860s
    Library of Congress - Morgan collection of Civil War drawings Digital Id ppmsca 20424 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.20424    		 John Spivey
    USS Young America
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 18 November 2022