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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Connecticut (III)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Side-wheel Steamer:
  • Built in 1861 as the wooden side-wheel steamer SS Mississippi by William Webb at New York
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Purchased by the Federal Navy, 18 July 1861
  • Commissioned USS Connecticut, 23 August 1861, CDR. M. Woodhull in command
  • During the Civil War USS Connecticut
    Delivered men and supplies to ships of the blockade along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts
    Patrolled in search of CSS Nashville, from 16 to 24 October and 10 November to 17 December
    Returning to cargo duty January to November 1862, capturing four schooners
    Decommissioned at New York from 24 November to 15 December 1862 for repairs
    Recommissioned and towed to her next assignment as convoy and tow ship at Aspinwall, Panama, completing that duty, 5 June 1863
    Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 10 August 1863 to 25 July 1864, off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts
    Capturing five vessels and drove a sixth ashore
    Connecticut was reassigned to cargo duty from 30 July to 5 October 1864
    Decommissioned, 7 October 1864 at Boston
    Recommissioned, 17 February 1865, Connecticut cruised the West Indies and the east coast from 21 February to 3 August 1865 searching for Confederate privateers and towing monitors
  • Decommissioned, 11 August 1865, at Philadelphia Navy Yard
  • Sold, 21 September 1865, for mercantile service, renamed SS South America
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,725 t.
    Length 251' 6"
    Beam 38' 2"
    Draft unknown
    Depth 22' 8"
    Speed 10kts
    Complement 166
    Armament
    four 32-pdrs
    one 12-pdr rifle
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Connecticut 165k Line engraving, published in "Harper's Weekly", in 1861, depicting Connecticut undergoing conversion for Naval service, at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, in July 1861. She was originally the civilian steamship Mississippi.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59586    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Wabash 100k "The Great Naval Expedition" to capture Port Royal, South Carolina, November 1861. Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861 volume, pages 696-697, depicts Federal warships and transports, under Flag Officer Samuel F. DuPont, USN, departing Hampton Roads, Virginia, en route to Port Royal. Ships, as identified below the image bottom, are (from left): (illegible),
    Oriental,
    Baltic,
    USS O.M. Pettit,
    USS Gem of the Sea,
    Great Republic,
    USS Wabash (DuPont's flagship),
    USS Seneca,
    USS Pembina,
    USS Connecticut,
    USS Mercury,
    USS Unadilla,
    USS Augusta,
    USS Alabama and (illegible).
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 59315    		 Robert Hurst
    Colorado 134k Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, based on a sketch by an officer of USS Mississippi depicting Commodore Farragut's Squadron and Captain Porter's Mortar Fleet entering the Mississippi River at the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi, circa 7 April 1862. Features identified in the engraving's title lines include (from left to right): Light-house on Southwest Pass;
    USS Colorado (in left foreground);
    USS Pensacola on the bar;
    USS Westfield (seen nearly stern-on);
    Porter's mortar fleet, heading up the river;
    USS Mississippi on the bar;
    USS Harriet Lane (side-wheel steamer at the rear of the mortar fleet);
    USS Connecticut (in right foreground);
    USS Clifton;
    town of Banona.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59059    		 Robert Hurst
    Connecticut 586k USS Connecticut at anchor during the Civil War, date and location unknown.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 55349.    		 Peter Skoutas
    Connecticut 52k USS Connecticut by Xanthus Smith, circa 1863.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 50446    		 US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Connecticut 62k Watercolor of SS South America by Erik Heyl, 1948, painted for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume I. Built at New York City in 1861 as the civilian steamship Mississippi, she served as USS Connecticut in 1861-1865 and was renamed South America after her return to commercial employment in 1865.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo NH 63890. Courtesy of Erik Heyl.    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Connecticut (III)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 7 January 2017