USS G. W. Blunt (1856)

USS G. W. Blunt was a Sandy Hook pilot boat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War in 1861. See George W. Blunt (1856) for more details.[1][2] She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat as well as a dispatch boat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

History

6 September 1856United States

Name:
  • George W. Blunt (1856 — 1861)
  • G. W. Blunt (1861 — 1865)
Namesake: George W. Blunt, nautical publisher
Owner:
  • New York Pilots (1856 — 1861)
  • U.S. government (1861 — 1865)
Operator:
  • Joseph Henderson, James Callahan (1856 — 1861)
  • U.S. Navy (1861 — 1865)
Builder: Daniel Westervelt of New York City
Laid down: 1856
Launched: 6 September 1856
Completed: 1856
Acquired: 23 November 1861
Commissioned: 4 December 1861
Decommissioned: 13 May 1863
In service: 2 June 1863
Out of service: 16 August 1865
Stricken: 1865 (est.)
Nickname(s): Blunt
Fate: sold, 20 October 1865
General characteristics
Tonnage: Uncertain[note 1]
Length: 76' 6"
Beam: 20' 6"
Draught: depth of hold 8' 9"
Propulsion: schooner sail
Speed: 10 knots
Complement: not known
Armament:
  • one 12-pounder gun
  • one 12 pounder rifle

Towards the war's end, she was reconfigured as a rescue and salvage ship. Her new task was to remove many of the shipwrecks, hulks, and other in-water debris of war.

Construction and service - commissioned in 1861

The G. W. Blunt, formerly the pilot schooner George W. Blunt, was a wooden two-masted schooner built by Daniel Westervelt in New York and launched 6 September 1856. The schooner was acquired by the Navy in New York City on 23 November 1861.[note 2] She was commissioned on 4 December 1861 and acting Master was Henry Sherwood who was in command.[1][2][3]

Union Navy service

Arriving at Port Royal, South Carolina, on 11 December 1861, G. W. Blunt served as a mail and dispatch boat for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron between Charleston, South Carolina, Wassaw Sound, Georgia, and Fernandina, Florida. En route to Georgetown, South Carolina, on 19 April 1862 she captured the blockade-running schooner Wave with a cargo of cotton.[2]

For the following year the G. W. Blunt was on a blockade duty off Charleston and assisted in capturing several more vessels. She departed Port Royal, South Carolina, for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 7 May 1863 and was decommissioned for repairs on 13 May 1863. Recommissioned on 2 June 1863, the G. W. Blunt rejoined the blockading squadron off Charleston, patrolling the many small inlets and bays near the main harbor.[2]

Cruising on Charleston station on 1864, the G. W. Blunt was sent to Port Royal on 7 August 1864 and on 25 August was fitted with diving equipment for salvage duty. She worked on many wrecks, including Constance on 13 November and the USS Housatonic, (sunk 17 February 1864 by Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley) from 15 to 19 November. She was sent to Savannah, Georgia, on 1 March 1865 to clear obstructions from the harbor, and returned to Charleston 1 April 1865.[2][4]

Post-war decommissioning and sale

The G. W. Blunt was decommissioned on 16 August 1865 at Port Royal and was sold there on 20 October 1865.[2]

Footnotes
  1. Various sources, at least one in serious error on year, give varied, unspecified tonnages. Navy gives 121, again unspecified measurement of tonnage, though not the usual Navy displacement figure.
  2. Causing some confusion is the second pilot boat, replacing the 1856 schooner and named George W. Blunt, constructed in 1861 by Brown & Lovell of East Boston, Massachusetts, and delivered to the owners of the first schooner.

References
  1. "Shipping News — Miscellaneous". The New York Herald: 8. 2 December 1861. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  2. Naval History And Heritage Command (9 July 2015). "G. W. Blunt". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  3. "New Pilot Boat". New-York Daily Times. 17 December 1856. Archived from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  4. Naval History And Heritage Command (20 July 2015). "Housatonic I (ScSlp)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 31 August 2020.

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

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