CSS Rappahannock

Not to be confused with the Confederate side-wheel gunboat of the same name.

CSS Rappahannock
History
United Kingdom
NameVictor
Ordered15 May 1855[1]
BuilderMoney Wigram & Son, Blackwall
Cost£45,450[1]
Laid down24 May 1855[1]
Launched2 November 1855[1]
Commissioned1 April 1856
FateSold to R. Gordon Coleman as Scylla in November 1863 and resold later the same month to the Confederacy
Confederate States
NameCSS Rappahannock
CommissionedNovember 1864
DecommissionedApril 1865
FateTurned over to United States
General characteristics
Class and typeIntrepid-class gunvessel
Tons burthen868 49/94 bm[1]
Length200 ft (61 m) pp[1]
Beam30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)[1]
Depth of hold14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)[1]
Installed power1,166 ihp (869 kW)[1]
Propulsion
  • 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine[1]
  • Single screw
Sail planBarque
Speed11.6 knots (21.5 km/h)[1]
Complement100
Armament

CSS Rappahannock, a steam sloop-of-war, was built at the Blackwall Yard on the River Thames by Money Wigram & Son in 1855 as an Intrepid-class gunvessel for the Royal Navy and named HMS Victor. Although a handsomely modeled vessel, numerous defects occasioned her sale in 1863. An agent of the Confederate States Government purchased her ostensibly for the China trade, but British authorities suspected she was destined to be a Confederate commerce raider and ordered her detention. Nevertheless, she succeeded in escaping from Sheerness, England, on November 24, with workmen still on board and only a token crew. Her Confederate States Navy officers joined in the English Channel.

When he bought her from the Admiralty through his secret agent on November 14, Commander Matthew F. Maury had intended Rappahannock to replace the cruiser CSS Georgia and was about to transfer Georgia's guns to her. She was ideal for a cruiser — wooden-hulled and bark-rigged with two engines and a lifting screw propeller.

The Confederate Screw-Steamer Rappahannock lying at Calais Pier, 1863

She was commissioned a Confederate man-of-war underway, but while passing out of the Thames Estuary her bearings burned out and she had to be taken across to Calais for repairs. There Lieutenant C. M. Fauntleroy, CSN, was placed in command. Detained on various pretexts by the French Government, Rappahannock never got to sea and was turned over to the United States at the close of the war.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.