USS Yantic ( IX - 32 ) USS " Yantic " ( IX - 32 ) , a wooden - hulled screw gunboat built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard , was launched on 19 March 1864 and commissioned on 12 August 1864 , Lieutenant Commander Thomas C . Harris in command . She was named after the Yantic River . Service history . Civil War , 1864 – 1865 . The day after her commissioning , 13 August 1864 , " Yantic " — in company with the tugs and — sailed in pursuit of the Confederate privateer CSS " Tallahassee " . The gunboat went to the northward and eastward of Nantucket during her cruise but , as her commanding officer reported , " obtained no information to justify a longer search for the piratical vessel . " Consequently , after a week at sea , " Yantic " returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and commenced her post - trial repairs . Meanwhile , CSS " Tallahassee " had left Halifax , Nova Scotia , at 13 : 00 on 20 August , before any Federal warships could arrive , setting in motion a search . Agitation in Washington over " Tallahassee " resulted in Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles ' sending identical telegrams to the commandants of the navy yards at New York and Philadelphia on the 20th , each asking what vessels were ready for sea . " Yantic " subsequently received orders directing her to proceed to Woods Hole , Massachusetts , where she was to await further orders . She arrived there at 10 : 00 on 13 September . " Yantic " later operated off the eastern seaboard between Hampton Roads and New York and , on 1 November , visited Halifax — a port swarming with " secessionists and other sympathizers " — to obtain information on the activities of CSS " Olustee " ( as the Confederates had renamed " Tallahassee " ) . After the Confederate ship had managed to elude her pursuers , " Yantic " joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Wilmington , North Carolina . During the Union ' s first attempt to take Fort Fisher , N . C . , on Christmas Eve 1864 , the screw gunboat suffered her first casualties . At 15 : 00 that afternoon , during the bombardment phase of the action , the ship ' s 100 - pounder rifled gun burst , mortally wounding the division officer , the gun captain , and four men . On his own initiative , Commander Harris — thinking his ship " badly shattered " and not knowing the extent of the damage — ordered his ship hauled out of line . After obtaining medical assistance from the steamer and reporting the assessed damage to the flagship , Harris took " Yantic " back into action , opening fire with his remaining effective guns , the 30 - pounder rifle and a 9 - inch Dahlgren gun . On Christmas Day 1864 , " Yantic " assisted in the debarking of the troops of General Benjamin Butler and covered the landing operations . At 1400 , on the 25th , as Lieutenant Commander Harris later reported , the troops landed " amidst deafening and encouraging cheers from the men - of - war and from the troops still aboard the transports , cheers which were echoed by the fleet by a fire that elicited but a feeble response from the fort . " General Butler , however , " to the surprise and mortification of all " ( as Harris later recounted ) , recalled the troops ; and the landing operation ceased . The first Union attempt to reduce and take Fort Fisher thus proved to be a dismal failure ; but , before another attempt was made , General Butler was replaced by a more dynamic and aggressive man , Major General Alfred Terry . " Yantic " provided a landing party and gunfire support for the second amphibious attack that commenced on 13 January 1865 . In the action — a bloody one in which the sailors and marines of the naval landing force charged on the run into withering Confederate gunfire and suffered accordingly grievous casualties in the frontal assault — Fort Fisher was finally taken on 15 January . During the battle , " Yantic " lost three men — two on 15 January and one , who had been wounded mortally on the 15th , who died on the 20th . The next month , " Yantic " participated in the capture of Fort Anderson , N . C . , between 17 and 19 February , in her second major landing operation in a little over a month . For the remainder of the Civil War , " Yantic " served on blockade duties , as part of the successful Union interdiction operation , preventing trade by sea with the Confederacy . 1865 – 1882 . For a little over three more decades , " Yantic " " showed the flag " of the United States in the West Indies , in South American waters , and in the Far East — as well as along the eastern seaboard of the United States . After operating fairly close to home from 1865 to 1872 , she then cruised to the Asiatic Station , where she operated for the next four years , 1873 to 1877 . During that particular tour of duty , " Yantic " stood ready to provide assistance for Americans and protection for their property . While operating with the Asiatic Squadron — precursor of the Asiatic Fleet and the 7th Fleet — the gunboat put ashore her landing force at Shanghai , China , on 3 May 1874 , in company with the landing party from the sidewheeler to aid in quelling a riot by the local natives . At other times during that Asiatic Squadron deployment , " Yantic " conducted a regular routine of cruises to ports ranging from Canton , Borneo , the Philippine Islands , and Hong Kong . In late 1874 , when the Pacific Mail Steamer " Japan " foundered , " Yantic " searched for her . In the spring of 1875 , the gunboat later protected the salvagers of " Japan " s cargo from pirates . Subsequently , " Yantic " s crew took part in celebrations attending the unveiling of the statue of Admiral David G . Farragut in Washington , D . C . , on 25 April 1881 , before sailing later that spring to Mexican waters . In June , at Progreso , Yucatán , she investigated the detention of the American bark " Acacia " before returning northward to familiar waters off the eastern seaboard of the United States . In October 1881 , " Yantic " also took part in observances commemorating the centennial of the Battle of Groton Heights and in festivities celebrating the centennial of the American victory at Yorktown , Virginia . 1883 – 1917 . In June 1883 , " Yantic " headed for the coast of Greenland , Comdr . Frank Wildes in command , as tender for the steamer " Proteus " , the latter carrying the men of the second relief party sent out to search for the exploration party led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely . After touching at Disco , Upernavik , and Littleton Island , " Yantic " returned to New York on 29 September 1883 . She carried back with her the men of the relief party , led by Lieutenant Garlington , and also the officers and men of " Proteus " , which had been crushed in heavy ice on 23 July 1883 . Unfortunately , neither ship found any trace of the ill - fated Greely expedition . " Yantic " " showed the flag " along the eastern seaboard and into the waters of South America and the West Indies from 1884 to 1897 . In 1898 , she was then loaned to the naval militia of the state of Michigan and served as training ship on the Great Lakes until 1917 . Training ship , 1917 – 1929 . With America ' s entry into World War I , the navy expanded . Accordingly , the Civil War gunboat was recommissioned in 1917 and assigned as a training ship at the Naval Training Station , Great Lakes , Illinois . After the armistice , she was struck from the Navy List on 24 July 1919 and ordered sold . However , the venerable " Yantic " was withdrawn from the sale list on 31 December of the same year and again assigned duty as a training ship — this time with the Naval Reserve Forces of the 9th , 10th , and 11th Naval Districts . Commissioned on 15 May 1921 , " Yantic " — designated IX - 32 — operated out of Cleveland , Ohio , until 30 June 1926 , when she was decommissioned and again loaned to the state of Michigan . " Yantic " suddenly sank alongside the dock at the foot of Townsend Avenue , Detroit , Michigan , on 22 October 1929 . Subsequent investigation revealed that the sinking had been caused by structural weakening , owing to " natural deterioration . " Her hull is still buried in a filled - in boat slip in Gabriel Richard Park ; her anchor sits in front of the Detroit Naval Armory . She was struck from the Navy List on 9 May 1930 . The ship log is nowhere to be found .