Name USS Columbia Launched date unknown Commissioned December 1862 Length 51 m | Laid down date unknown Acquired 4 November 1862 Out of service 14 January 1863 | |
USS Columbia (1862) was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
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Captured by the Union Navy and placed into service
Columbia, a screw steamer was captured on 3 August 1862 by Santiago de Cuba while running the blockade off the coast of Florida; purchased by the Navy from the Key West, Florida Prize Court on 4 November 1862; outfitted at New York Navy Yard; and commissioned sometime in December, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Joseph Pitty Couthouy in command.
Wrecked while assigned to serve in the North Atlantic Blockade
While serving with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Wilmington, North Carolina, Columbia ran aground and was wrecked off Masonboro Inlet on 14 January 1863.
Crew and commanding officer captured by Confederate forces
Forty men of her crew — including her commanding officer — were captured by the Confederates.