USS Huntsville chases the rebel steamer CSS Reliance.
History
United States
Name	USS Huntsville
Namesake	Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville, Texas
Builder	J. A. Westervelt (New York)
Launched	10 Dec 1857
Completed	Jan 1858
Acquired	24 April 1861
Commissioned	9 May 1861
Decommissioned	5 April 1862
In service	Jan 1858–1877
Out of service	28 August 1865
Stricken	1865 (est.)
Fate	Sold, 30 November 1865
General characteristics
Displacement	860 tons
Length	196 ft 4 in (59.84 m)
Beam	29 ft 6 in (8.99 m)
Draft	19 ft 5 in (5.92 m)
Propulsion	steam engine screw-propelled
Speed	11 knots
Complement	64
Armament	one 64-pounder gun two 32-pounder guns

USS Huntsville was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

Construction and initial service

Huntsville, a wooden screw steamer, was built in New York City by J. A. Westervelt for H. B. Cromwell & Co., who intended to run her as a passenger steamer between New York and Savannah, Georgia. Huntsville was launched on 10 December 1857,^[1] and was in operation on her intended route by January of the following year.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Hunstsville was chartered from her owner, H. B. Cromwell & Co., in New York City 24 April 1861; commissioned there 9 May 1861, Commander Cicero Price in command; and purchased by the Navy 24 August 1861 while on active duty.

Gulf Blockading Squadron

Huntsville sailed for Key West, Florida, arriving 11 May 1861, and joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron. In early August she steamed from the Florida coast westward and almost immediately captured two small schooners off Mobile, Alabama. She cruised on blockade duty from Alabama to Texas, and on 24 December she engaged Florida off Mobile Bay. Following an hour-long gun battle, she turned the blockade runner back into Mobile.

Huntsville returned to New York in the spring of 1862, and she decommissioned 5 April. She recommissioned 11 June, Lt. Howard Rogers in command, and returned to blockade duty along the U.S. Gulf Coast. By the end of July she had taken three prizes, Confederate steamers Adela and Reliance and British schooner Agnes, carrying cargoes of cotton, rosin, and other commodities. Before the end of the year, she captured two additional blockade runners, schooners Courier and Ariel, trying to run into Mobile with cargoes of lead, tin, medicines, wines, and coffee.

As the relentless pressure of the blockade against the South continued, the third year of the war proved even more profitable for Huntsville. During 1863 she captured two Confederate ships, Minnie and A. J. Hodge; two British schooners, Surprise and Ascension; and Spanish steamer Union. In addition, she drove two others, Cuba and Eugenia, into the hands of other ships in the blockading fleet and was given partial credit in the capture of Last Trial, a Confederate sloop captured off Key West, Florida, harbor. Among the variety of cargo seized, Huntsville captured 523 bales of cotton, the most valuable commodity in the South; and she prevented a great quantity of supplies, mainly from Havana, Cuba, and Nassau, Bahamas, from reaching the beleaguered South.

End-of-war operations and post-war decommissioning

After completing two passenger runs to Boston, Massachusetts, Huntsville escorted monitor Nausset to Philadelphia where she arrived 22 August. She decommissioned there 28 August and was sold at New York City 30 November to Russell Sturgis.

References

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