USS Galena (1862)

A drawing of Galena cleared for action in 1862
History
United States
NameUSS Galena
NamesakeGalena, Illinois
Ordered16 September 1861
BuilderH.L. & C.S. Bushnell, Mystic, Connecticut
Laid down1861
Launched14 February 1862
Commissioned21 April 1862
Decommissioned17 June 1865
Stricken1870
FateScrapped, 1872
General characteristics
TypeIronclad screw steamer
Displacement950 long tons (965 t)
Tons burthen738 (bm)
Length210 ft (64 m) (o/a)
Beam36 ft (11 m)
Draft11 ft (3.4 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 8 in (3.86 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Sail planSchooner rig
Speed8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement164 officers and enlisted
Armament
Armor3.12 inches (79 mm)

USS Galena was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was initially assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and supported Union forces during the Peninsula Campaign in 1862. She was damaged during the Battle of Drewry's Bluff because her armor was too thin to prevent Confederate shots from the guns of Fort Darling from penetrating her hull. Widely regarded as a failure, Galena was reconstructed without most of her armor in 1863 and transferred to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in 1864. The ship participated in the Battle of Mobile Bay and the subsequent Siege of Fort Morgan in August. She was briefly transferred to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron in September before she was sent to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for repairs in November.

Repairs were completed in March 1865 and Galena rejoined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in Hampton Roads the following month. After the end of the war, the ship was decommissioned at Portsmouth, New Hampshire in June. She was transferred to Hampton Roads in 1869, condemned in 1870, and broken up for scrap in 1872.