 CSS Sumter
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States of America | |
| Laid down | 1859 |
| Christened | Habana |
| Acquired | April 1861 |
| Commissioned | 3 June 1861 as CSS Sumter |
| Fate | Sold 19 December 1862 (renamed Gibraltar). Foundered on the Dogger Bank 14 February 1867. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 473 tons |
| Length | 184 ft (56 m) |
| Beam | 30 ft (9.1 m) |
| Draft | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion | Steam, Sail |
| Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 18 |
| Armament |
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CSS Sumter, converted from the 1859-built merchant steamer Habana, was the first steam cruiser of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. She operated as a commerce raider in the Caribbean and in the Atlantic Ocean against Union merchant shipping between July and December 1861, taking eighteen prizes, but was trapped in Gibraltar by Union Navy warships. Decommissioned, she was sold in 1862 to the British office of a Confederate merchant and renamed Gibraltar, successfully running the Union blockade in 1863 and surviving the war.