Dispatch boat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

Dispatch boats were small boats tasked to carry dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore.

[edit] Use of term by the U.S. Navy

Dispatch boat was a term used by the U.S. Navy in its journal accounts to describe boats which carried messages, or mail -- otherwise termed dispatches -- between high ranking military officials aboard other ships or to land-based destinations. General Ulysses S. Grant depended on dispatch boats, for example, in his Virginia campaign in order to correspond with the Union Navy ships on the James River.

Dispatch boats were common prior to the introduction of radio capability on ships.

[edit] Dispatch boats during the American Civil War

The American Civil War employed a large number of dispatch boats, such as the Gladiolus and the Geranium among numerous others.

[edit] References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.