Original
page can be found at the Naval
Historical Center homepage
USS Lackawanna
A
river in Pennsylvania.
I
(ScSlp
t. 1,533; l. 237'; b. 38'2"; dr. 16'3"; s.
10.5 k.; a. 2 24-pdr. hows.,
2 12-pdr. hows., 2 12-pdr. r., 1 150-pdr. P. r., 1
50-pdr. D. r., 2 11" D. sb., 2 9" D. sb.)
The first Lackawanna was launched by the New York
Navy Yard 9 August 1862; sponsored by Miss Imogen
Page Cooper; and commissioned 8 January 1863, Capt. John B. Marchand
in command.
The new screw sloop-of-war departed New
York 20 January to join the Union blockade
of the southern coast. She reported to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron at Pensacola
early in February and, for the remainder of the war, served along the gulf
coast of the Confederacy, principally off Mobile
Bay.
Lackawanna
took her first prize, Neptune,
14 June after a long chase in which the 200-ton Glasgow
ship had jettisoned her cargo trying to escape. The Union sloop-of-war scored
again the next day, capturing steamer Planter as the Mobile
blockade runner attempted a dash to Havana
laden with cotton and resin.
Following duty along the Texas
coast near Galveston
in March and April 1864, Lackawanna
returned to the blockade of Mobile
early in May to prevent the escape of Confederate ram Tennessee.
During the summer she served in the blockade while preparing
for Admiral Farragut’s conquest of Mobile
Bay.
On 9 July, with Monongahela, Galena,
and Sebago, she braved the guns of Fort
Morgan
to shell steamer Virgin, a large blockade runner aground at the entrance
of Mobile
Bay.
The Union guns forced a southern river steamer to abandon efforts to assist Virgin,
but the next day the Confederates refloated the
blockade runner who reached safety in Mobile
Bay.
Closing this strategic southern port was an important part of the Union
strategy to isolate and subdue the South.
At dawn on the morning of 5 August, Farragut’s
ships crossed the bar and entered the bay. A Confederate squadron, led by
ironclad ram Tennessee
anda
field of deadly mines awaited to block their advance. Farragut’s
lead monitor Tecumseh struck a mine and went down in seeonds.
The Confederate flagship Tennessee
vainly tried to ram Brooklyn
and the action became general, raging for more than an hour.
At one point in the struggle, Lackawanna
rammed Tennessee
at full speed, causing the Confederate ram to list, and
later she collided with Hartford
while attempting to ram Tennessee
again,shortly
before the ironclad struck. This daring operation closed the last major gulf
port to the South.
Following the Union victory in Mobile
Bay,
Lackawanna
continued to operate in the gulf, enforcing the blockade
until after the end of the Civil War. She departed Key
West 24 June 1865,
reached New York
on the 28th, and decommissioned at New York Navy Yard 20 July.
Recommissioned
7 May 1866,
Comdr. William Reynolds in command, Lackawanna
sailed for the South
Atlantic 4 August, transited the Straits of
Magellan 9 November, and arrived Honolulu
9 February 1867.
She operated in the Pacific, primarily in the Hawaiian
Islands and along the coast of California
and Mexico
until she arrived at Mare
Island
for decommissioning 10
February 1871.
Recommissioning 8 May 1872, the steam sloop sailed for the Orient 22 June and
served in the Far Fast until returning to San Francisco 23 April 1875. But for two brief periods in ordinary, she
continued to operate in the Pacific during the next 12 years. She finally
decommissioned at Mare Island 7 April 1885 and was sold there to W. T. Garratt
& Co. 30 July 1887.
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received by the editor at
kaighin@iname.com
Copyright 2004, 2005, Gregory D.
Kaighin, All rights reserved
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