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I'm not much for maritime history, but of course the name of this particular Civil War-era steamer caught my eye:
The second USS Memphis was a 7‑gun screw steamer, built by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1861, which briefly served as a Confederate blockade runner before being captured and taken into the United States Navy during the American Civil War....Memphis was commissioned on October 4, 1862, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Pendleton G. Watmough in command.
Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Memphis sailed for Charleston and began service on October 14 with the capture of British Ouachita bound for Havana, Cuba. She continued patrol through 1862 into 1863. On January 4, 1863 she joined side wheel steamer USS Quaker City in taking Confederate sloop Mercury with a cargo of turpentine for Nassau, Bahamas. On January 31, Confederate ironclads CSS Palmetto State and CSS Chicora made a dash out of Charleston Harbor into the midst of the blockading ships. Screw steamer USS Mercedita was rammed and disabled by Palmetto State steamer while side wheel steamer USS Keystone State was next attacked and left for Memphis to take in tow. The two rams then retired.
By March of the following year, Memphis was operating in the North Edisto River. On March 6, 1864 Confederate torpedo boat CSS David attempted a run on the Union blockader. The spar torpedo struck Memphis' port quarter but did not explode. After her second torpedo misfired, David retreated upstream out of range of her foe's heavy guns. Memphis, uninjured, continued her blockading duties to the end of the Civil War.
On May 6, 1867 Memphis was decommissioned and...(r)enamed Mississippi, the screw steamer operated as a freight ship until May 13, 1883 when she was gutted by a dock fire at Seattle, Washington, and her wreck abandoned.
Sounds like she had an exciting career. She's one of six U.S. Navy ships that have been named for my old Tennessee hometown.
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