USS New National (1862)

History
United States
Laid down: date unknown
Launched: date unknown
Commissioned: circa June 1862
Decommissioned: 12 April 1865
Struck: 1865 (est.)
Captured:
Fate: returned to her owner
General characteristics
Displacement: 1,000 tons
Length: not known
Beam: not known
Draught: not known
Propulsion:
  • steam engine
  • side wheel-propelled
Speed: not known
Complement: not known
Armament: one 12-pounder rifle

USS New National (1862) was a large side wheel steamer seized by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a troop ship and receiving ship in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

New National seized by the Union Navy at Memphis

New National, a wooden side-wheel steamer, was seized by Union Navy gunboats at Memphis, Tennessee, 6 June 1862, after they had destroyed the Confederate River Defense Fleet.

Placed into Union service as a troop ship

Placed in service as a transport, First Master A. M. Grant in command, for the U.S. War Department’s Western Flotilla, New National carried troops in a joint expedition to St. Charles, Arkansas, where they landed 17 June, stormed Southern earthworks, and won control of the White River for the Union fleet.

Officially transferred to the Navy as a receiving ship

Transferred from the War Department to the Navy 30 September 1862, New National served as a receiving ship and as a mail and supply boat for the Mississippi Squadron.

Returned to owner and chartered by the Union Navy

Returned to her owner, Pearson Montgomery, at the intervention of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, 21 March 1863, she was simultaneously chartered by the Navy and kept in service.

Supporting the capture of Yazoo City

After the fall of Vicksburg, she participated in the expedition which captured Yazoo City, Mississippi, 13 July 1863.

Decommissioning post-war, and return to owner

Following service maintaining Union communication and supply lines on the Mississippi River and its tributaries through the end of the Civil War, New National decommissioned at Mound City, Illinois, 12 April 1865 and was returned to her owner.

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, October 31, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.