USS Kansas ( 1863 ) USS " Kansas " ( 1863 ) was a gunboat constructed for the Union Navy during the middle of the American Civil War . She was outfitted with heavy guns and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America . She was the first U . S . Navy ship to be named " Kansas " and was the first of a class of 836 - ton screw steam gunboats , At war ’ s end , she continued serving her country by performing survey work and defending American interests in Cuba until sold in 1883 . Commissioned at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . " Kansas " was built at Philadelphia Navy Yard with machinery taken from prize steamer " Princess Royal " . She was launched 29 September 1863 ; sponsored by Miss Annie McClellan ; and commissioned at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania 21 December 1863 , Lieutenant Commander Pendleton G . Watmough in command . Civil War service . Assigned to the North Atlantic blockade . On the day of her commissioning , the gunboat was ordered to Hampton Roads , Virginia to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron . She arrived Newport News , Virginia , 30 December ; but engine and boiler trouble required her to return to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs . In March 1864 the gunboat was stationed at Wilmington , North Carolina , off New Inlet , where she served during most of the remainder of the war . With " Mount Vernon " , " Howquah " , and " Nansemond " , she engaged Confederate ironclad - ram " Raleigh " , ( Flag Officer William Lynch ) which had steamed over the bar at New Inlet 6 May to attack the Northern blockaders . The withering fire from the Union ships caused " Raleigh " to withdraw toward safety within the harbor , but she grounded and broke her back while attempting to cross the bar at the mouth of the Cape Fear River . After strenuous efforts to save the stricken vessel proved fruitless , she was destroyed to prevent her falling into Union hands . Capturing blockade runners . Shortly before dawn 15 May , " Kansas " ended a two - hour chase by capturing British steamer " Tristram Shandy " as the blockade runner attempted to escape to sea with a cargo of cotton , tobacco , and turpentine . The next day the proud gunboat towed her prize into Beaufort , North Carolina . On her return passage she brought Colonel James Jourdan to reconnoiter Confederate defenses at Fort Fisher in preparation for future attacks . Throughout the night of 27 – 28 May , " Kansas " chased a blockade - running steamer which finally escaped . That morning boiler trouble prevented her getting underway to chase another steamer which dashed out from Wilmington , North Carolina . After remaining on blockade duty at New Inlet until August , the gunboat returned to Philadelphia for repairs . " Kansas " rejoined her squadron late in September ; and , after briefly cruising at sea , she returned to her old station off New Inlet in mid - October . There she chased and headed off steamer " Annie " trying to slip out of New Inlet with a cargo of cotton . This action 31 October enabled " Wilderness " and " Niphon " to capture the chase a short time later . On 7 December , while Admiral David Dixon Porter and General Benjamin F . Butler planned joint operations against Wilmington to close that vital Confederate port once and for all , " Kansas " was one of the Union gunboats which were making blockade - running in that quarter hazardous . That day they forced steamer " Stormy Petrel " ashore where she was abandoned by her crew and , a few days later , destroyed by a gale . Supporting the attack on Fort Fisher . At daylight Christmas Eve , " Kansas " was part of the huge fleet which formed in line of battle before Fort Fisher and pounded the formidable Confederate works with a furious bombardment . Although the cannonade drove the staunch Southern defenders from their guns to shelter in bombproofs , transports carrying the Union soldiers did not arrive from Beaufort until too late to launch the assault that day . The next morning , the ships again opened fire on the forts and maintained the bombardment while troops landed near Flag Pond Battery , north of the main defensive works . Some 2 , 000 men established a beachhead under the protection of naval gunfire which kept the Confederate garrison pinned down and away from their guns . Late that afternoon , supported by heavy fire from the Union ships , Union Army skirmishers advanced to within yards of the fort . Lt . Aeneas Armstrong of the Confederate Navy later described the effectiveness of the bombardment : However , General Butler , considering the works too strong to be carried by assault with the troops available , aborted the operation by ordering his troops to re - embark . Undaunted by this setback , the Navy was not to be denied . At Porter ' s request Grant sent him a new commander . " Kansas " was one of some five dozen ships which Porter sent against Fort Fisher 13 January 1865 . A naval landing party of 2 . 000 sailors and marines reinforced 8 . 000 soldiers under Major General Alfred H . Terry . The ensuing onslaught was a classic example of complete Army - Navy coordination . " New Ironsides " led three monitors to within 1 , 000 yards of Fort Fisher and opened on its batteries . Meanwhile , " Kansas " and the other wooden warships formed in line of battle in close order and shelled Flag Pond Battery and the adjacent woods at 0715 . Half an hour later they sent in boats to assist in disembarking the landing party which went ashore out of range of the fort ' s guns . Once the beachhead had been established , " Kansas " stood toward Fort Fisher to join in the bombardment of the main Confederate works . She continued the bombardment intermittently for the next 2 days . Shortly before noon 15 January , her launch went ashore with 20 men to join the naval brigade for the final push . The gunboat maintained heavy fire during the following hours while soldiers , sailors , and marines braved the deadly fire of the stouthearted Southern defenders . Finally at 2200 loud cheering and illumination of the fleet announced the fall of the forts . Supporting General Grant ’ s forces . After cleanup operations in the Wilmington area , " Kansas " moved to the James River late in February to support General Grant ' s final drive to Richmond , Virginia . From time to time during the closing weeks of the war , " Kansas " supported Union Army operations ashore with her guns , particularly near Petersburg , Virginia . The day after General Robert E . Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House , the gunboat was ordered to a station off Cape Henry to prevent the escape of Confederate sympathizers who were reportedly planning to capture vessels in the bay . Post - war operations . South Atlantic voyage . " Kansas " entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard 23 April and decommissioned 4 May . She recommissioned 28 July , Lt . Cmdr . Clark H . Wells in command , and departed Philadelphia 5 August to begin a 4 - year voyage in the South Atlantic Ocean which took her to Cape Town , Africa , as well as to many ports in the Caribbean and South America . This long and interesting deployment ended 15 September 1869 , when the gunboat arrived Washington Navy Yard , where she decommissioned a week later . Post - war surveying operations . After a year in ordinary at Washington , D . C . , she recommissioned 26 September 1870 , Lt . Cmdr . Norman H . Farquhar in command . She stood down the Potomac River 10 October and arrived Hampton Roads 3 days later to join " Mayflower " for the Tehuantepec surveying - expedition sent to southern Mexico to determine the feasibility of constructing an inter - oceanic canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec which separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific Ocean . The ships sailed via Key West for Vera Cruz 14 October . The expedition carefully surveyed the narrow neck of land and recorded invaluable scientific information making " many calculations to prove that a ship - canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is not only practicable , but that the obstacles in the way of the canal route are of the most ordinary nature . " When she returned to Washington 15 June 1871 , her crew was seriously debilitated by fever contracted in the tropics . As a result , she was ordered to the North Atlantic to join a special squadron under Vice Admiral Stephen Rowen at Portsmouth , New Hampshire . She stood in to Staten Island 10 October to participate in the reception given the Russian Fleet . She departed New York Harbor 29 November for Cuba and arrived Havana , Cuba , in December . The gunboat left that port 25 February 1872 to obtain supplies and await Comdr . A . F . Grossman who headed another Nicaragua - surveying expedition . She was employed gathering data on potential inter - oceanic canal routes until returning to Key West , Florida , on 13 July . " Kansas " departed Key West 6 August to determine positions for a submarine cable between Key West and Havana and returned a week later . She departed Key West 21 August and arrived Halifax , Nova Scotia , 5 September . She stood out of Halifax 17 September and arrived New York City 21 November after visiting Salem , Massachusetts , and Newport , Rhode Island , en route . She got underway for another surveying expedition of Central America 1 January 1873 , which ended when she returned to Key West 15 July . Defending American interests in Cuba . In November Spanish authorities in Cuba seized arms - running ship Virginius , illegally flying the American flag on the high seas , and summarily shot 53 of her passengers and crew . On hearing of this incident , " Wyoming " sailed without orders to Santiago , Cuba , and entered a vigorous protest . " Kansas " stood out of New York 14 November to join " Wyoming " in checking brutal action and in protecting the nation ' s interests . After battling severe weather , she arrived Santiago , Cuba , 2 December . As a host of other warships from the Home Fleet , the South Atlantic , and the European station converged on Cuba , the 102 survivors of " Virginius " , owing their lives to the prompt naval action , were taken to New York . " Kansas " returned to Key West Christmas Day . In February 1874 she participated in a naval drill in Florida Bay . Her final year of active service was devoted to cruising in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico , at the time a region of considerable unrest . She sailed from Pensacola , Florida 8 July 1875 , and arrived Portsmouth , New Hampshire , on the 21st . Final decommissioning . " Kansas " decommissioned there 10 August 1875 and laid up until sold at Rockland , Maine , to Captain Israel L . Snow 27 September 1883 .