Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size
Login

Military Photos



USS Kanawha (1862-1866)

(133 total words in this text)
(1465 Reads)  Printer-friendly page
USS Kanawha, a 691-ton Unadilla class screw steam gunboat, was built at East Haddam, Connecticut. Commissioned in January 1862, she served along the Confederacy's Gulf of Mexico coast throughout the Civil War. From February 1862 into 1864, Kanawha operated off the entrances to Mobile Bay, Alabama, taking, destroying or assisting in the capture or destruction of some sixteen blockade runners, all but one of them sailing vessels. In the spring of 1864, the gunboat moved to the Texas coast, where she eliminated three more blockade runners, including the steamer Matagorda. With the end of the conflict in May 1865, Kanawha was sent north. She decommissioned in July 1865 and was sold in June 1866. Converted to a sailing bark and renamed Mariano, she was in merchant service until at least 1878.

Military History
Forum Posts

Military Polls

Who was the greatest commander of the ancient world?

[ Results | Polls ]

Votes: 130

This Day in History
1461: Edward IV defeats Henry VIs Lancastrians at the battle of Towdon.

1847: U.S. troops under General Winfield Scott take possession of the Mexican stronghold at Vera Cruz.

1865: The final campaign of the war begins in Virginia when Union troops of General Ulysses S. Grant move against the Confederate trenches around Petersburg. General Robert E. Lees outnumbered Rebels were soon forced to evacuate the city and begin a desperate race west.

1879: British troops of the 90th Light Infantry Regiment repulse a major attack by Zulu tribesmen in northwest Zululand.

1916: The Italians call off the fifth attack on Isonzo.

1917: Marines garrison St. Croix to deny harbor to German submarines.

1936: Italy firebombs the Ethiopian city of Harar.

1941: The British sink five Italian warships off the Peloponnesus coast in the Mediterranean.

1942: British cruiser Trinidad torpedoes itself in the Barents Sea.

1942: German submarine U-585 sinks.