Name USS Glide Commissioned 3 December 1862 Displacement 137 long tons (139 t) | Acquired 17 November 1862 Type Gunboat Launched 1862 | |
Fate burned, 7 February 1863 | ||
The first USS Glide was a sternwheel tinclad gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
Glide originally built in Shousetown, Pennsylvania in 1862 and purchased by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 17 November 1862. She was taken to Cairo, Illinois for fitting out and commissioned on 3 December 1862, Acting Lieutenant Selim E. Woodworth in command.
After fitting out, Glide departed on 3 January 1863 for the lower Mississippi River as part of the Mississippi Squadron. She participated in the fierce engagement at Fort Hindman, or Arkansas Post, 11 January as part of the division of light-draft gunboats under the overall command of Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith. As army forces launched the assault, Glide and the other gunboats helped to silence the powerful batteries. She passed the fort under heavy fire and proceeded upstream to cut off possible escape routes for the garrison.
After aiding in the important victory at Fort Hindman, helping to open the White River, Glide served briefly there as a gunboat and supply ship until she was sent to Cairo for repairs in early February 1863. While she was repairing there on 7 February 1863, an unexplained fire broke out forward and within a few minutes the tinclad was entirely destroyed.