USS Albatross

The USS Albatross was built and launched sometime in 1858 at Mystic, Connecticut until it was purchased by the Navy on May 23rd, 1861 and commissioned on June 25th. Acquired to expand the Union fleet in the civil war, USS Albatross was ordered to carry out the blockade of the Confederate coast, established by President Abraham Lincoln. After a week of service in the Atlantic Glockading Squadron, the Albatross made her first capture when her crew boarded and seized the schooner Velasco from Galveston, Texas. The schooner was carrying false papers and sugar but, was actually from Cuba and sailing under the lone star flag. On her way back to the station from turning in the Velasco, she exchanged fire with a North Carolina steamer, the CSS Beaufort. Albatross ended up forcing the Beaufort to retreat to safety. On July 22nd, 1861, the Albatross was able to capture a seized Confederate schooner, the CSS Enchantress. On September 14th, 1861, the USS Albatross captured the CSS Alabama from the mouth of the Potomac River. Later that month, she made a run to Baltimore for repairs and patrolled near Beaufort until being transferred to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in April 1862. On January 16th, 1862, she discovered a 800-ton grounded British ship and destroyed it. When she returned to South Carolina, she captured the steam tug, Treaty, and the schooner, Louisa. In July, USS Albatross was reassigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. On September 21st, off of the mouth of the Rio Grande, she captured a ship from Galveston, Texas, Two Sisters. From September to November 1862, Albatross was put on quarantine after an outbreak of yellow fever on the vessel. With the approach of spring 1863, the Mississippi Squadron planned to send some of its gunboats past Vicksburg, Mississippi. On March 13th, 1863, he moved seven warships past Vicksburg to patrol Port Hudson. On the evening of March 14th, 1863, USS Hartford and USS Albotross moved up the Mississippi River. While passing the lower batteries, the two vessels were almost swept ashore and grounded. Later on. The USS Richmond took a hit in her steam plant, disabling her. Later, the USS Monongahela ran hard aground outside of Port Hudson and took on heavy fire. After more shots were fired, the Monongahela was refloated and she continued her course upriver. The USS Mississippi came across some confusion in the low visibility of the ammunition smoke and ran aground. She was unable to be refloated. She was set ablaze, floating downriver, and exploded. In the middle of March, he Albatross came across Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, Mississippi. On May 4th, 1863, she attacked Fort De Russy and engaged two Confederate steamers, the CSS Grand Duke and Mary T. After James Brown’s hard work at Fort De Russy, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Following he surrender of Port Hudson on July 9th, 1863, Albatross briefly dropped down the river to New Orleans and began a repair period, where she joined blockading forces off of Mobile Bay. During this time, the USS Albatross served as a dispatch vessel for the blockade near Mobile, Alabama. On January 9th, 1864, the USS Albatross shelled a large steamer lying underneath Fort Morgan. In May 1864, Albatross was ordered to the Portsmouth Navy Yard for major repairs. Recommissioned on December 26th, 1864, she was ordered back to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. She ended up encountering a fierce storm 100 miles South of Cape Cod and was severely damaged, losing her smokestack and top foremast. She managed to reach the Delaware River and sailed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for repairs. After the fixes, she was stationed in Mobile, where she served through the end of the war. After the collapse of the Confederacy, USS Albatross sailed to the Boston Navy Yard where she was decommissioned on August 11th, 1865 and sold at a public auction on September 8th. She operated as a merchant vessel until her engines were removed and she was dropped from the shipping registers in 1888.