CSS Shenandoah

CSS Shenandoah
On a slip at Williamstown, Colony of Victoria (now a suburb of Melbourne, Australia) in 1865
History
Confederate States
NameSea King, Shenandoah, El Majidi
Port of registryLiverpool
BuilderAlexander Stephen & Sons, River Clyde, Scotland
Yard number42[1]
LaunchedAugust 17, 1863
Acquired1863
RecommissionedOctober 19, 1864
DecommissionedNovember 6, 1865
Maiden voyageTransport troops to New Zealand and return, 10 months
RenamedCSS Shenandoah
FateAs El Majidi foundered in November 1879
General characteristics
TypeExtreme clipper hull
Tonnage1018 grt, 790 nrt
Length230 ft (70 m)
Beam32.5 ft (9.9 m)
Draft20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Deckspoop, main, berth
Deck clearance7.5 ft (2.3 m)
Installed power200 HP A. & J. Inglis steam engine
Propulsion14 ft-diameter (4.3 m) bronze propeller
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Speed
  • 8 knots (15 km/h) under steam
  • 16 knots (30 km/h) under sail
Complement109 officers and men
Armament
  • 4 × 8 in (203 mm) smoothbore cannons,
  • 2 × 12 pounder (5 kg) rifled Whitworth cannons,
  • 2 × 32 pounder (15 kg) cannons

CSS Shenandoah, formerly Sea King and later El Majidi, was an iron-framed, teak-planked, full-rigged sailing ship with auxiliary steam power chiefly known for her actions under Lieutenant Commander James Waddell as part of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War.[2]

Shenandoah was originally a British merchant ship launched as Sea King on August 17, 1863, but was later repurposed as one of the most feared commerce raiders in the Confederate Navy. For twelve-and-a-half months from 1864 to 1865, the ship undertook commerce raiding around the world in an effort to disrupt the Union's economy, capturing and sinking or bonding 38 merchant vessels, mostly whaling ships from New Bedford, Massachusetts. She finally surrendered on the River Mersey, Liverpool, United Kingdom, on November 6, 1865, six months after the war had ended.

Shenandoah is also known for having fired the last shot of the Civil War, across the bow of a whaler in waters off the Aleutian Islands.[3]

  1. ^ Cameron, Stuart. "SS Sea King". Clydebuilt Ships Database. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ Baldwin, pp. 6–11
  3. ^ Baldwin, p. 255