| Career (US) | |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | date unknown |
| Commissioned: | February 1864 |
| Out of service: | 6 March 1864 |
| Struck: | 1864 (est.) |
| Captured: | by Union Navy forces 25 February 1863 |
| Fate: | sank, 6 March 1864 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | not known |
| Length: | 210’ |
| Beam: | 28’ |
| Draught: | depth of hold 15’ |
| Propulsion: | steam engine side wheel-propelled |
| Speed: | not known |
| Complement: | not known |
| Armament: | not known |
USS Peterhoff (1863) was a British blockade runner captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She served the Union Navy’s struggle against the Confederate States of America as a patrol gunship.
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Union side wheel steamer Vanderbilt seized blockade-running British steamer Peterhoff off St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 25 February 1863. The prize was subsequently condemned by the New York City prize court and purchased by the Union Navy.
An international dispute over the legality of the seizure delayed her active service for almost a year. She was finally commissioned in February 1864, Act. Vol. Lt. Thomas Pickering in command.
Peterhoff was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron on the 20th. The steamer departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, on the 28th for Wilmington, North Carolina.
Stationed off New Inlet, North Carolina, Peterhoff collided with Monticello 6 March 1864 and sank. The next day Mount Vernon destroyed Peterhoff’s hulk to prevent possible salvage by the Confederates.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.