USS Britannia ( 1862 ) USS " Britannia " ( 1862 ) was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat and patrol vessel in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways . " Britannia " constructed in England to run the Union blockade . In 1862 , speculators in the British Isles constructed the iron - hulled , side - wheel steamer " Britannia " at Leith , Scotland , to run through the Union Navy ' s blockade of the Confederate coast during the American Civil War . After three successful voyages carrying munitions and supplies to the beleaguered South , " Britannia " departed Charleston , South Carolina , on 21 June 1863 and headed for Nassau , New Providence , with a cargo of cotton . " Britannia " captured by " Santiago de Cuba " . About dawn on the 25th , sighted the blockade runner some 90 miles east northeast of Eleuthera Island . " Britannia " attempted to escape ; but , at the end of a day - long chase " against a strong wind and sea " in which the Union sidewheel steamer slowly gained on the fleeing ship , " Santiago de Cuba " , about 7 : 00 p . m . , finally was close enough to open fire . Her shells fell close around their target and quickly brought " Britannia " to . Commander Robert H . Wyman , the captain of " Santiago de Cuba " , placed a prize crew under Acting Master Edgar C . Merriman on board " Britannia " and sent her to Boston , Massachusetts . Awarded to the Union Navy by the prize court . She was condemned by the admiralty court there and sold to the United States Navy on 29 September 1863 . However , almost a fortnight before , the Navy — anticipating the completion of this transaction — had placed " Britannia " in commission on 16 September 1863 at the Boston Navy Yard , Acting Master Hugh H . Savage in command . Assigned to the Union Blockade of the Confederacy . Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron , she sailed soon thereafter for waters off Wilmington , North Carolina , but experienced disabling boiler trouble en route and was towed into Beaufort , North Carolina , on 26 September for temporary repairs . Then , following permanent repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard , she left Hampton Roads , Virginia , late in November and finally took station off New Inlet , North Carolina , in the blockade of Wilmington , North Carolina . " Britannia " hits blockade runner , but the ship escapes . Her first action came in the predawn darkness of 10 December when she fired upon an incoming blockade runner . " Britannia ' s " commanding officer was confident of having scored several hits , but the speedy steamer reached safety at Wilmington nonetheless . Participating in the Bogue Inlet expedition . " Britannia " was somewhat more successful in her next major action early in the spring of 1864 . On 24 March , she departed Beaufort to launch a closely coordinated Army - Navy expedition . She carried some 200 soldiers commanded by Col . James Jourdan and about 50 sailors from Union warships , , and under Comdr . Benjamin M . Dove . The aim of the expedition was to capture or to destroy two blockade running schooners reported to be lying to at Swansboro , North Carolina , and to capture the Confederate troops on the south end of Bogue Island Banks . Arriving off Bogue Inlet late at night , the expedition encountered high winds and heavy seas which prevented landing on the beach . Early on the morning of the 25th , a second attempt was made under similarly difficult conditions . Nevertheless , a party got through to Bear Creek and burned one of the schooners . Bad weather persisted throughout the day and the expedition eventually returned to Beaufort on the 26th with its mission only partially completed . " Swallow " , drifting towards the Confederates is rescued by " Britannia " . On the morning of 8 April , " Britannia " steamed within range of Confederate coastal batteries to take under tow a small sailing ship which seemed to be drifting helplessly toward the Southern shore . The vessel proved to be the " Swallow " , a sloop which had been captured by Union side - wheeler off Elbow Cay Light in the Bahamas on 20 March . She had departed Abaco 19 days before under a prize crew , but had lost her sails in a gale , and was leaking seriously . Her commander was planning " . . . to run her ashore as the only means of saving himself and ( his ) crew . " " Britannia " attacked by CSS " Raleigh " . The next noteworthy event in " Britannia ' s " career occurred about a month later . On the evening of 6 May , Flag Officer William Francis Lynch , CSN — in the Southern ironclad steam sloop " Raleigh " — led a small naval force out of the Cape Fear River and over the bar at New Inlet . After crossing that barrier , Lynch headed straight for " Britannia " which promptly sent up several rockets to warn her sister blockaders of the impending attack and fired her 30 - pounder Parrott rifle at " Raleigh " . Nevertheless , " Britannia " , badly overmatched , headed out to sea in an effort to escape . Eager for action , the determined Southerner continued her advance toward the fleeing blockader ; but her consorts , the steam gunboat " Equator " and the tug " Yadkin " turned back . As " Britannia " retreated , she fired at " Raleigh " with her 24 - pounder howitzer . Meanwhile the Southerner had opened fire and put out the blockader ' s binnacle lights with her first shot and came close to scoring again with subsequent rounds . " Nansemond " comes to the rescue of " Britannia " . " Britannia " frantically changed course several times before escaping in the darkness after the Union side - wheeler captured her pursuer ' s attention . " Raleigh " and " Nansemond " exchanged salvos , and " Britannia " heard the roar of cannon from time to time during the night . At dawn , she saw " Raleigh " fighting off several other Northern warships as she retired toward the Cape Fear River . The Confederate ironclad ran aground while attempting to get over the bar off New Inlet and had to be destroyed . CSS " Tallahassee " tries to slip through the blockade . From time to time during the last year of the Civil War , " Britannia " chased ships which were attempting either to slip into , or to escape from , Wilmington , North Carolina . The most memorable of these actions occurred on the night of 25 August after she had been alerted by warning rockets from other Union blockaders which had just seen " CSS Tallahassee " — commanded by Comdr . John Taylor Wood , CSN , the swashbuckling grandson of President of the United States , Zachary Taylor — as that Confederate cruiser was returning from one of the South ' s most successful commerce raiding cruises and was attempting to slip through the blockade to safety in Wilmington . A bit under an hour after " Britannia " had gone to general quarters , she " . . . saw a stranger on our port quarter running alongshore . " The Union warship " . . . put the helm hard aport and went ahead fast , and fired as soon as the guns would bear . Continued firing and chasing until she ( " Tallahassee " ) was close under Fort Fisher , in white water , the breakers being between us and her . " " Tallahassee " , joined by Southern batteries emplaced on the Mound , fired back at " Britannia " ; and shrapnel from one shell which burst close aboard caused some damage to the Union blockader . " Britannia ' s " captain , Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Samuel Huse , reported that he felt " . . . confident that two of " Britannia ' s " shells took effect . . . " on " Tallahassee " . Still , the Confederate warship managed to dash by " Britannia " — the last blockader between her and the bar — and safely reached Wilmington . " Britannia " shells steamer " Ella " which had run aground . Early in December , " Britannia " took part in the shelling of the steamer " Ella " which other Northern steamers had run aground on the shoals near the light at Bald Head Point on Smith ' s Island while that blockade runner was approaching the Western Bar Channel of the Cape Fear River . Participating on the attack on Fort Fisher . Soon thereafter , " Britannia " began preparations to take part in a joint Army - Navy expedition against Fort Fisher which Confederate forces had erected to control the New Inlet entrance to the Cape Fear River . The ultimate objective of the project was the closing of Wilmington , the Confederacy ' s only major blockade running port still open . The Union task force — commanded by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter — was delayed by bad weather , but launched its attack on the morning of 24 December 1864 , following the detonation of the Union powder boat . Transports carrying the Army troops had retired to Beaufort in order to avoid the anticipated effects of the explosion , and fleet units had assembled in a rendezvous area 12 miles from the fort . At daylight on 24 December , the huge fleet got underway , formed in line of battle before the formidable Confederate works , and commenced a furious bombardment . The staunch Southern defenders , under the command of the Col . William Lamb , were driven from their guns and into the bombproofs of Fort Fisher , but managed to return the Federal fire from a few of their heavy cannon . Transports carrying the Union soldiers did not arrive from Beaufort until evening , too late for an assault that day . Accordingly , Porter withdrew his ships , intending to renew the attack the next day . Second day of the attack on Fort Fisher . At 10 : 30 the following morning , Christmas , the ships again opened fire on the fort and maintained the bombardment while troops landed north of the works , near Flag Pond Battery . Naval gunfire kept the garrison largely pinned down and away from their guns as about 2 , 000 men landed and advanced toward the land face of the fort . Late in the afternoon , Union Army skirmishers supported by heavy fire from Union vessels , advanced to within yards of the fort . Union Army commanders , however , considered the works too strongly defended to be carried by assault with the troops available , and the soldiers began to re - embark . Naval gunfire protected some 700 troops who were left on the beaches as the weather worsened . By 27 December the last troops were reembarked . Attack on Fort Fisher fails , Union forces withdraw . The first major attack on Fort Fisher had failed . Confederate reinforcements under General R . F . Hoke were in Wilmington and arrived at Confederate Point just after Union forces departed . The Army transports returned to Hampton Roads to prepare for a second move on the Confederate bastion , while Porter ' s fleet , including " Britannia " , remained in the Wilmington - Beaufort area and continued sporadic bombardment in an effort to prevent repair of the fort . Union forces return and Fort Fisher capitulates . " Britannia " was a part of the new and more powerful Union task force which attacked Fort Fisher early on the morning of 13 January 1865 . After taking part in the prelanding bombardment , she lowered her boats to carry troops to the peninsula on which the Confederate fort had been built . Then , once the assault teams were on the sandy beaches , she intermittently shelled the Confederate works during the bloody three - day struggle which culminated with the surrender of the gallant , but beleaguered , Southern garrison on the evening of the 15th . For a bit more than a fortnight thereafter , the side - wheel steamer busied herself with cleanup operations in the Cape Fear River . Her assignments included holding and transporting prisoners who had been captured at the Confederate surrender . Reassigned to the East Gulf Blockade . On the last day of January , orders detached " Britannia " from Porter ' s fleet and sent her to Florida waters for duty in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron . She reached Key West , Florida , in mid - February and , about a week later , left that port with a joint Army - Navy force which had been assembled to attack Fort St . Mark , Florida , which the South was attempting to strengthen so that it might be , in the words of the squadron commander , Acting Rear Admiral Cornelius K . Stribling , The shallow water of the river prevented the Union warships from ascending the St . Marks River high enough to attack the fort . " Britannia " managed by great effort to get higher than most of her consorts , but a report that the Army was retreating prompted the naval force to begin to withdraw on 7 March . However , some Union ships remained at the mouth of the river to prevent the South from using St . Marks as a port of entry . Moreover , the expedition managed to destroy extensive salt works in the vicinity . " Britannia " served in Florida waters through the Confederate collapse and sailed north in mid - June . Post - war decommissioning , sale , and subsequent civilian career . She was decommissioned at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 28 June 1865 and sold at auction there on 10 August 1865 . Documented as " SS Britannia " on 8 September 1865 , the steamer served under the American flag as a merchantman until sold abroad in 1886 .