View source for USS Tahoma

{{short description|Gunboat of the United States Navy}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Tahoma (1861-1867).jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1861}}
|Ship name= '''USS ''Tahoma'''''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship owner=
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=1861
|Ship launched=2 October 1861
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=20 December 1861
|Ship recommissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=23 July 1864
|Ship maiden voyage= 
|Ship in service=13 April 1865
|Ship out of service=27 August 1867
|Ship renamed=
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship refit=
|Ship struck=1867 (est.)
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship identification=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honours=
|Ship honors=
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=Sold, 7 October 1867
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header=
| Header caption=
| Ship class= {{sclass|Unadilla|gunboat|3}}
| Ship type=
| Ship tonnage=
| Ship displacement= 691 tons
| Ship tons burthen= 507
| Ship length= {{convert|158|ft|m|abbr=on}} ([[waterline]])
| Ship beam= {{convert|28|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship draft= {{convert|9|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} (max.)
| Ship hold depth= {{convert|12|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship decks=
| Ship deck clearance=
| Ship ramps=
| Ship ice class=
| Ship power= 
| Ship propulsion= 2 × 200 [[indicated horsepower|IHP]] 30-in [[bore (engine)|bore]] by 18 in [[stroke (engine)|stroke]] horizontal [[marine steam engine#Back acting|back-acting]] engines; single screw
| Ship sail plan= Two-masted [[schooner]]
| Ship speed= {{convert|10|kn|mph|sigfig=3|abbr=on}}
| Ship complement= 114
| Ship armament=*Original:
*1 × 11-in [[Dahlgren gun|Dahlgren]] [[smoothbore]]
*2 × 24-pdr smoothbore
*2 × 20-pdr [[Parrott rifle]]
| Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Tahoma''''' was a {{sclass|Unadilla|gunboat|3}} built by order of the [[Union Navy|United States Navy]] for service during the [[American Civil War]].

''Tahoma'' was used by the Union Navy as a [[gunboat]] in support of the Union Navy blockade of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] waterways.

== Commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard ==

''Tahoma''—a wooden-hulled, 4th rate screw gunboat constructed during 1861 at [[Wilmington, Delaware]], by W. and A. Thatcher—was launched on 2 October 1861; and commissioned at the [[Philadelphia Navy Yard]] on 20 December 1861, [[Lieutenant]] [[John C. Howell]] in command.

== Civil War operations ==

=== Assigned to the East Gulf Blockade ===

Assigned to the [[East Gulf Blockading Squadron]], ''Tahoma'' remained with this force for her entire career through the Civil War. On 26 April 1862, while patrolling east of [[Sea Horse Key]], [[Florida]], the screw gunboat chased a [[schooner]] until the quarry ran aground where she was destroyed. Two months later, ''Tahoma'' raided [[St. Marks, Florida]], burned a barracks and destroyed a battery of cannon before heading out to sea, unscathed.

=== Blockade runner ''Uncle Mose'' carelessly approaches Tahoma ===

While patrolling off the [[Yucatan Peninsula]] on 7 July, ''Tahoma'' captured the blockade-running schooner ''Uncle Mose'', which had sailed unawares up to where the gunboat had anchored. Comdr. Howell later reported that the Confederate captain was astonished "at finding a man-of-war where we were anchored." The prize was laden with 115 bales of badly needed cotton.

=== Sending ashore a landing party on Sea Horse Key ===

After patrol duty in the late summer and early fall, ''Tahoma'' helped to destroy three important Confederate [[salt works]]. On the morning of 6 October, ''Tahoma'', and [[USS Somerset (1862)|''Somerset'']] lay to off Sea Horse Key and sent ashore a landing party of 111 men in eight boats. A pre-landing bombardment of shell, [[Shrapnel shell|shrapnel]], and [[Canister shot|canister]] fired from the [[howitzers]] mounted in two of the boats scattered some 20 to 30 armed Confederate [[guerrillas]].

The sailors quickly landed and deployed to cover the boats. Working parties destroyed 28 boilers and burned all buildings in the vicinity. As Howell subsequently reported:

<blockquote>the expedition was entirely successful  ... no confusion was exhibited on landing  ... no useless expenditure of ammunition, and no one hurt.</blockquote>

=== Capturing seven blockade runners ===

While operating along the Florida coast during the first six months of 1863, ''Tahoma'' captured seven [[blockade runners]]: the cotton-laden [[sloop]] ''Silas Henry'' at [[Tampa Bay]] on 8 January; British schooner ''Margaret'' off [[St. Petersburg, Florida]], on 1 February; the [[yacht]] ''Stonewall'' off [[Pea Creek (Florida)|Pea Creek]](now called the Peace River) on 22 February; schooner ''Crazy Jane'', carrying a cargo of cotton and [[turpentine]], near Gadsden's Point on 5 May; cotton-carrying schooner ''Statesman'' in [[Tampa Bay]] on 6 June; the British blockade-running schooner ''Harrietton'' off [[Anclote Key]]s on 18 June; and ''Mary Jane'', destroyed on the same day at [[Clearwater, Florida]].

Also during this period, ''Tahoma'' engaged a Confederate shore battery at Gadsden's Point on 2 April.

=== Attacking and destroying vital Confederate salt works ===

''Tahoma'' and [[USS Adela (1862)|''Adela'']] landed an expeditionary force at [[Tampa, Florida]], on 17 October 1863 and burned the steamer ''Scottish Chief'' as well as the sloop ''Kate Dale''. Operating out of [[Key West, Florida]], from January 1864, ''Tahoma'' launched two daring raids against Confederate [[salt works]] in February of that year.

On the morning of 17 February, a landing force went ashore in two detachments and marched seven miles inland to destroy salt works at [[St. Marks, Florida]].

Ten days later, another force went ashore to destroy an even more distant station near [[Goose Creek (Florida)|Goose Creek]]. On the latter occasion, the landing party eluded Confederate cavalry and brought off a dozen prisoners, including a captain from an infantry company. Before their destruction, these two salt works had produced some 2,500 bushels of salt—important not only for preserving food but also for making [[gunpowder]].

=== Recommissioned for post-war operations ===

In the summer, the gunboat steamed north for repairs and was placed out of commission at the [[New York Navy Yard]] on 23 July 1864.

After the completion of her overhaul, the ship was recommissioned on 13 April 1865 and operated off the [[U.S. East Coast]] until decommissioned at [[Boston, Massachusetts]], on 27 July of the same year. The ship again served on active duty, this time with the Gulf Squadron, from the fall of 1866 into the summer of 1867.

== Post-war decommissioning and sale ==

''Tahoma'' was decommissioned for the last time on 27 August 1867. The ship was later sold on 7 October that same year at [[New York City]].

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
*[[Union Navy]]

== References ==
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/tahoma-i.html}}

{{Unadilla class gunboat}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tahoma}}
[[Category:Ships of the Union Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Wilmington, Delaware]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Unadilla-class gunboats]]
[[Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States]]