 CSS Oregon is described as similar to the wooden steamship SS California seen above, although with only one mast
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States | |
| Name | Oregon |
| Laid down | 1846 |
| Acquired | 1861 |
| Fate | Scuttled in April 1862 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 532 tons |
| Length | 216 ft 10 in (66 m) |
| Beam | 26 ft 6 in (8.1 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam engines |
| Armament | 1 × 8 in (203 mm) gun, 1 × 32 pounder (15 kg), two howitzers |
CSS Oregon was a wooden sidewheel steamer that served as a gunboat in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Built in 1846 for the Mobile Mail Line, she transported mail between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, before the war. In 1861, she was seized by the Governor of Louisiana, Thomas Overton Moore, and served as a blockade runner before being selected for use by the Confederate Army. After transferring men and supplies to Ship Island, she was formally converted into a gunboat and armed with four cannon. Remaining behind on Lake Pontchartrain when many Confederate warships were transferred up the Mississippi River, Oregon served in the Mississippi Sound and Pass Christian areas. She took part in several minor actions involving USS New London, two of which resulted in the Confederates moving into shallow water to avoid close-range action, and the third ending when the Confederate ships abandoned the Pass Christian area. In April 1862, Union pressure confined her and other Confederate ships to Lake Pontchartrain. Later that month, with Union forces closing in on New Orleans, Oregon was sunk as a blockship. Her wreck was removed and destroyed in the early 1870s.