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USS Gettysburg (1858)
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USS Gettysburg (1858)
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{{otherships|USS Gettysburg}} {|{{Infobox Ship Begin}} {{Infobox Ship Image |Ship image=[[Image:USSGettysburg1858.jpg|300px|USS Gettysburg]] |Ship caption=''Gettysburg'' in the Bay of Naples, 1878 }} {{Infobox Ship Career |Hide header= |Ship country= |Ship flag= |Ship name=1858—1862: ''Douglas'' (1) <br/> 1862—1864: ''Margaret and Jessie'' <br/> 1864-1879: USS ''Gettysburg'' |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Robert Napier & Sons' ''Govan'' |Ship laid down=1858 |Ship launched=1858 |Ship acquired=by capture, 5 November 1863 |Ship commissioned=2 May 1864 |Ship decommissioned=6 May 1879 |Ship struck= |Ship registry={{flagicon|Isle of Man|civil}} Douglas (1858–62) <br/> {{navy|United States|1877}} (1862-79) |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honors= |Ship fate=Sold, Genoa, Italy, 8 May 1879 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox Ship Characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type=[[Steamboat|Sidewheel]] [[gunboat]] |Ship displacement={{convert|950|LT|t|lk=on|abbr=on}} |Ship length={{convert|221|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|26|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship hold depth={{convert|13|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=[[Steam engine]] |Ship sail plan= |Ship speed=Trials: {{convert|17.75|kn|mph km/h|lk=on|abbr=on}} <br/> Service: {{convert|15|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=96 officers and men |Ship armament=1 × 30-pounder [[Parrott rifle]], 2 × 12-pounder rifles, 4 × 24-pounder howitzers |Ship notes= }} |} The first '''USS ''Gettysburg''''' was a [[steamship|steamer]] in the [[Union Navy]]. The ship was built in [[Glasgow, Scotland]] in 1858, named ''Douglas'', and operated for the [[Isle of Man Steam Packet Company]] between [[Liverpool]], [[United Kingdom]] and [[Douglas, Isle of Man|Douglas]] on the [[Isle of Man]] until November 1862. She was then sold to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], renamed ''Margaret and Jessie'', and operated as a [[blockade runner]] until her capture by the Union on 5 November 1863. The ship was renamed ''Gettysburg'', and commissioned into the Union Navy on 2 May 1864. During her military service, ''Gettysburg'' operated with the [[North Atlantic Blockading Squadron]], was involved in both the [[First Battle of Fort Fisher|first]] and [[Second Battle of Fort Fisher|second]] attacks on Fort Fisher, helped lay telegraph cables between Key West and Havana and undertook navigational surveys of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. ''Gettysburg'' was decommissioned on 6 May 1879 and sold two days later. ==Pre-Civil War== ===Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, 1858-1862=== {{expand-section|date=May 2009}} Due to increasing passenger traffic between the Isle of Man and England, it was decided in 1858 that a larger, faster ship would be ordered for the [[Isle of Man Steam Packet Company|packet]] fleet. During trials, she achieved {{convert|17.75|kn|mph km/h|lk=on|abbr=on}}, and was declared the fastest Channel Steamer in existence during the period. In November 1858, she was sold to Cunard, Wilson & Co, on behalf of the Confederate agents, Fraser, Trenholm & Co. She was renamed ''Margaret and Jessie'' and sailed in gray livery for the Confederate States. ===1863 capture=== {{expand-section|date=May 2009}} ''Margaret and Jessie'' was captured as a [[blockade runner]] on 5 November 1863 by [[Union Army|Army]] transport ''Fulton'', {{USS|Keystone State|1853|2}}, and {{USS|Nansemond|1862|2}} off [[Wilmington, North Carolina]]. She was purchased from the New York Prize Court by the Navy and commissioned ''Gettysburg'' at [[New York Navy Yard]] on 2 May 1864, [[Lieutenant]] [[Roswell Lamson]] commanding. ==Civil War== ===North Atlantic Blockading Squadron=== A fast, strong steamer, ''Gettysburg'' was assigned blockading duty with the [[North Atlantic Blockading Squadron]], and departed [[New York]] on 7 May. She arrived at [[Beaufort, North Carolina]] on 14 May and from there took station at the entrance to the [[Cape Fear River]]. For the next seven months, ''Gettysburg'' was engaged in the vital business of capturing blockade runners carrying supplies to the strangling South. She captured several ships, and occasionally performed other duties. On 8 October, for instance, she rescued six survivors from [[schooner]] ''Home'', which had capsized in a squall. ====Battle of Fort Fisher==== ''Gettysburg'' took part in the [[First Battle of Fort Fisher|attack on Fort Fisher]] on 24–25 December 1864. ''Gettysburg'' assisted with the devastating bombardment prior to the landings by Army troops, and during the actual landings stood in close to shore to furnish cover for the assault. ''Gettysburg''{{'}}s boats were used to help transport troops to the beaches. With the failure of the first attack on the Confederate works, plans were laid for another assault, this time including a landing force of sailors and [[United States Marine Corps|marines]] to assault the sea face of the fort. In [[Second Battle of Fort Fisher|this second attack]] on 15 January 1865, ''Gettysburg'' again engaged the fort in the preliminary bombardment, and furnished a detachment of sailors under Lt. [[Roswell Lamson]] and other officers in an assault, which was stopped under the ramparts of Fort Fisher. Lamson and a group of officers and men were forced to spend the night in a ditch under Confederate guns before they could escape. Though failing to take the sea face of Fort Fisher, the attack by the Navy diverted enough of the defenders to make the Army assault successful. ''Gettysburg'' suffered two men killed and six wounded in the assault. ''Gettysburg'' spent the remaining months of the war on blockade duty off [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], and operated from April-June between [[Boston, Massachusetts]] and [[Norfolk, Virginia]] carrying freight and passengers. She was decommissioned on 23 June at [[New York Navy Yard]]. ==Post-war== ===Caribbean, 1866-1875=== Recommissioning on 3 December 1866, ''Gettysburg'' made a cruise to the [[Caribbean Sea]], returning to Washington on 18 February, and decommissioning again on 1 March 1867. ''Gettysburg'' went back into commission on 3 March 1868 at Norfolk and put to sea on 28 March on special service in the Caribbean. Until July 1868, she visited various ports in the area protecting American interests, among them [[Kingston, Jamaica]], [[Havana, Cuba]], and ports of [[Haiti]]. From 3 July-13 August, ''Gettysburg'' assisted in the laying of a [[telegraph]] cable from [[Key West]] to Havana, and joined with scientists from the Hydrographic Office in a cruise to determine the longitudes of [[West Indies|West Indian]] points using the electric telegraph. From 13 August 1868-1 October 1869, she cruised between various Haitian ports and Key West. ''Gettysburg'' arrived at the New York Navy Yard on 8 October, decommissioned the same day, and entered the Yard for repairs. ''Gettysburg'' was laid up in ordinary until 6 November 1873, when she again commissioned at [[Washington Navy Yard]]. She spent several months transporting men and supplies to the various Navy Yards on the Atlantic coast, and on 25 February 1874 anchored in [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]] harbor to embark members of the survey team seeking routes for an [[Nicaragua Canal|inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua]]. ''Gettysburg'' transported the engineers to [[Colón, Panama|Aspinwall, Panama]] and [[San Juan de Nicaragua|Greytown, Nicaragua]], and returned them to Norfolk on 10 May 1874. After several more trips on the Atlantic coast with passengers and supplies, the ship again decommissioned on 9 April 1875 at Washington Navy Yard. Recommissioned on 21 September, ''Gettysburg'' departed Washington for Norfolk, where she arrived on 14 October. Assigned to assist in another of the important Hydrographic Office expeditions in the Caribbean, she departed Norfolk on 7 November. During the next few months she contributed to safe navigation in the West Indies in surveys that led to precise charts. She returned to Washington with the scientific team on 14 June, decommissioning on 26 June. ===Mediterranean, 1876-1879=== ''Gettysburg'' recommissioned on 20 September 1876, for special duty to the [[Mediterranean]], where she was to obtain navigational information about the coasts and islands of the area. ''Gettysburg'' departed Norfolk on 17 October for [[Europe]]. During the next two years, she visited nearly every port in the Mediterranean, taking soundings and making observations on the southern coast of [[France]], the entire coastline of [[Italy]], and the [[List of islands in the Adriatic|Adriatic Islands]]. ''Gettysburg'' continued to the coast of [[Turkey]], and from there made soundings on the coast of [[Egypt]] and other North African points, [[Sicily]] and [[Sardinia]]. While visiting [[Genoa]] on 22 April 1879, ''Gettysburg'' rescued the crew of a small vessel which had run upon the rocks outside the breakwater. ==Decommissioning and fate== Her iron plates corroded from years of almost uninterrupted service and her machinery weakened, ''Gettysburg'' was decommissioned on 6 May and sold two days later. ==References== * {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g5/gettysburg-i.htm}} * ''Lamson of the'' Gettysburg: ''The Civil War Letters of Lieutenant Roswell H. Lamson, U.S. Navy'', James M. and Patricia R. McPherson, eds. (Oxford Univ. Press 1999) ==External links== *[http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/sp1904/ch03.htm] {{Steam Packet Ships}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Gettysburg}} [[Category:Ferries of the Isle of Man]] [[Category:United States Navy steamships]] [[Category:Ships of the Union Navy]] [[Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States]] [[Category:United States ships involved in the siege of Fort Fisher N.C.]] [[Category:Clyde-built ships]] [[Category:1858 ships]]
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