USS Clyde (1863)

USS Clyde was a paddle steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War, and commissioned to patrol Florida waters. She had been built in 1861 in Glasgow, Scotland as the Clyde passenger steamer Neptune, but sold in 1863 to become a blockade runner, making two successful round trips to Mobile, Alabama before capture. After the war she was sold to mercantile interests as Indian River, but lost shortly afterwards.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Clyde.
USS Clyde (1863-1865) Tied up in port, circa 1863-1865. Note this former blockade runner's pivot-mounted Dahlgren howitzer
USS Clyde tied up in port, circa 1863–1865. Note this former blockade runner's pivot-mounted Dahlgren howitzer
History
United States
NameUSS Clyde
Orderedas Neptune
Acquired29 July 1863
Commissioned29 July 1863
Decommissioned17 August 1865
Stricken1865 (est.)
Captured
FateSold, 25 October 1865
General characteristics
TypeSteamer
Displacement294 long tons (299 t)
Length200 ft 6 in (61.11 m)
Beam18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
Draft8 ft (2.4 m)
Propulsion
Speed9 kn (10 mph; 17 km/h)
Complement67
Armament2 × 24-pounder howitzers

River Clyde

The iron-hulled Neptune was launched in 1861 at the shipyard of Robert Napier and Sons at Govan for James S. Napier and James McIntyre, Glasgow.[1] She was 211.7 feet (64.5 m) long, 18.8 ft (5.7 m) in breadth and 8.2 ft (2.5 m) deep and measured 260 tons burthen, 200 grt and 126 nrt.[1] The ship was powered by a two-cylinder diagonal direct-acting steam engine, rated at 100 nhp and 995 ihp, also made by Napier, and driving a pair of side paddles.[2][3] On trials on 31 May 1861 Neptune was recorded in the shipyard's records as achieving 17.63 knots (32.65 km/h; 20.29 mph) knots, making her "the fastest steamer afloat".[4][5]

Neptune made her maiden sailing the following day between Greenock, Renfrewshire and Rothesay, on the Isle of Bute. By running from Greenock in conjunction with the trains from Glasgow, a much faster transit was offered compared with the all-water services from central Glasgow.[5] She also ran the full route to Glasgow, occasionally becoming involved in the dangerous practice of racing against her crack rivals of 1861, Ruby and Rothesay Castle.[6]

U.S. Navy service

Neptune—a sidewheel steamer—was captured on 14 June 1863 by Lackawanna and sent to Key West, Florida for condemnation. Sent to New York City to be surveyed and appraised, she was purchased by the Navy Department and placed in commission on 29 July 1863, Acting Master A. A. Owens in command.

Departing New York on 30 July 1863, the steamer arrived at Washington, D.C., on 3 August. Her name was changed to Clyde on 11 August. Clyde sailed from Washington on 6 September and arrived at Key West on 13 September for duty with the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. She patrolled the coastal and inland waters of western Florida and among the Florida Keys until the end of the war. She captured the schooner Amaranth on 27 September, and participated in two boat expeditions up the Suwannee River and the Waccasassa River, capturing nearly 200 bales of cotton. Arriving at Philadelphia Navy Yard on 10 August 1865, Clyde was decommissioned on 17 August, taken to New York City and sold on 25 October.

Mercantile service

Henry Titus purchased the Clyde and renamed her the Indian River. He intended to use the steamer for shipping canned fish and oyster from the Indian River in Florida. Upon arriving at Indian River Inlet, the steamer grounded hard in the shallow inlet and could not be refloated.[7]

References
  1. "Neptune". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  2. Graham, Eric J. (2006). Clyde Built: Blockade Runners, Cruisers and Armoured Rams of the American Civil War. Edinburgh: Birlinn. p. 202. ISBN 9781841584249.
  3. Deayton, Alistair (2013). Directory of Clyde Paddle Steamers. Stroud: Amberley. p. 140. ISBN 9781445614878.
  4. Williamson, James (1904). The Clyde Passenger Steamer: Its Rise and Progress during the Nineteenth Century (1987 facsimile ed.). Stevenage: SPA Books. pp. 126–130. ISBN 0-907590-19-5.
  5. "New Steamers". Greenock Advertiser. No. 7910, Vol.LXII. 4 June 1861. p. 1. Retrieved 19 January 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. McQueen, Andrew (1924). Echoes of Old Clyde Paddle-Wheels. Glasgow: Gowans & Gray. pp. 119–128.
  7. de la Cova, Antonio (2016). Colonel Henry Theodore Titus: Antebellum Soldier of Fortune and Florida Pioneer. University of South Carolina Press.

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

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