USS Verbena

History
United States
Owner
  • R. S. Campbell (1864)
  • United States Navy (1864–65)
BuilderLawrence & Foulks (Brooklyn, NY)
Launched1863
ChristenedIno
Acquired7 June 1864
Commissioned11 July 1864
Decommissioned13 June 1865
Renamed
  • USS Verbena (1864)
  • Game Cock (1865)
  • Edward G. Burgess (1885)
Stricken1865 (est.)
HomeportWashington Navy Yard
FateSold, 20 July 1865
General characteristics
TypeTugboat
Tonnage104
Length74 ft (23 m)
Beam12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Draft8 ft (2.4 m)
PropulsionScrew propeller
Speed12 mph (19 km/h)
Armament

USS Verbena was a small 104-ton steamer purchased by the Union Navy towards the end of the American Civil War.

Verbena, outfitted with a 20-pounder Parrott rifle by the Navy, was placed in service as a gunboat and assigned to the blockade of the Confederate States of America. However, most of her service was as a tugboat and as a ship’s tender.

Service history

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Verbena was originally Ino, a small wooden screw tugboat of 81 register tons, built at Brooklyn, New York by Lawrence & Foulks in 1863. She was purchased by the Navy at New York City on 7 June 1864 and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 11 July 1864.

On 19 July, the vessel was attached to the Potomac Flotilla for duty as a tugboat. Two days later, she deployed in the Potomac River off Point Lookout, Maryland.; and she served for most of the duration of the Civil War as a tender to the ironclad USS Roanoke.

After the collapse of the Confederacy, Verbena received orders on 5 May 1865 to proceed to the Washington Navy Yard, where she was decommissioned on 13 June.

Verbena was sold at public auction there to W. E. Gladwick on 20 July; redocumented as Game Cock on 9 September; renamed Edward G. Burgess on 7 July 1885; and dropped from the registry in 1900.

See also

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References

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Public Domain This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.