USS Hatteras (1861)
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 USS Hatteras on right engages CSS Alabama | |
| Career | 
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|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | |
| Built: | 1861 |
| Commissioned: | October 1861 |
| Fate: | sank in battle, 11 January 1863 |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1126 tons |
| Length: | 210 ft (64 m) |
| Beam: | 34 ft (10.4 m) |
| Draft: | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | 500 hp (373 kW) steam engine, 2 iron sidewheels |
| Speed: | 8 kts (15 km/h) |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 126 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 4 x 32 pounders (15 kg) and 1 × 20 pounder (9 kg) |
The first USS Hatteras was a United States Navy gunboat during the American Civil War.
The Hatteras was a side-wheel steamer that was constructed at Harland & Hollingsworth Company in Wilmington, Delaware in 1861 as a civilian merchant vessel named St. Mary's.
She was commissioned in October 1861 and assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Key West, Florida. She was placed under the command of Commander George F. Emmons. On 7 January 1862 she raided Cedar Keys, Florida, destroying seven Confederate blockade runners and harbor facilities.
On 26 January 1862 she was transferred to Admiral David Farragut's West Gulf Blockading Squadron. On 27 January 1862 she attacked CSS Mobile off the coast from Berwick, Louisiana.
During the remainder of 1862 she was assigned to intercept blockade runners along the Gulf coast and successfully captured several Confederate steamers and sailing vessels including the Poody which was taken as a prize and renamed USS Hatteras Jr.
Command of Hatteras was transferred to Commander Homer C. Blake and assigned, on 06 January 1863 to patrol off of Galveston, Texas.
On 11 January 1863 Hatteras encountered the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama under Captain Raphael Semmes flying the British flag (an acceptable practice under the law of the sea at the time) and indicating that she was HMS Spitfire.
As a boarding party approached Alabama she broke out the Confederate ensign and commenced firing. A fierce 40-minute battle ensued until Hatteras was overpowered and began to sink with 2 dead and 5 wounded.
The remaining crew was taken prisoner aboard Alabama and paroled at Port Royal, Jamaica.
Shipwreck
The hull of Hatteras rests in approximately 60 ft (20 m) of water 20 miles (40 km) off of Galveston, Texas and buried under about three feet (1 m) of sand. Her steam engine and two iron paddle wheels remain on the ocean bottom. The wreck is monitored to insure that it is not damaged by oil and gas development in the area.
The wreck of Hatteras is the property of the United States Navy though the Texas Historical Commission and Texas A&M University at Galveston cooperate in preserving this important historical site.
See USS Hatteras for other ships of this name.