USS Kansas (1863)

USS Kansas on the James River, Virginia, circa February–April 1865. Note her white smokestack, and three officers seated on shore.
History
Union Navy Jack United States
Namesakethe Kansas River
BuilderPhiladelphia Navy Yard
Launched29 September 1863
Commissioned21 December 1863
Decommissioned10 August 1875
FateSold 27 September 1883 at Rockland, Maine
General characteristics
Displacement625 tons
Length129 ft 6 in (39.47 m)
Beam29 ft (8.8 m)
Draft10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Propulsionsteam engine, screw propelled
Speed12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement108
Armament
  • 1 × 150-pounder rifle
  • 2 × 12-pounder rifles
  • 2 × 20-pounder Dahlgren rifles
  • 2 × 9 in (229 mm) Dahlgren smoothbores

USS Kansas was a gunboat constructed for the Union Navy during the middle of the American Civil War. She was outfitted with heavy guns and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named Kansas and was the first of a class of 836-ton screw steam gunboats. At war's end, she continued serving her country by performing survey work and defending American interests in Cuba until sold in 1883.