USS Red Rover

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USS Red Rover
History
United States
Name	USS Red Rover
Launched	1859
Acquired	30 September 1862
Commissioned	circa 26 October 1862
Decommissioned	17 November 1865
Captured	circa 25 March 1862
Fate	Sold, 29 November 1865
General characteristics
Type	Steamer / Hospital ship
Displacement	650 long tons (660 t)
Length	256 ft (78 m)
Draft	8 ft (2.4 m)
Propulsion	Steam engine side wheel-propelled
Speed	8 kn (9.2 mph; 15 km/h)
Complement	crew of 47 medical department 30+
Armament	1 × 32-pounder gun

USS Red Rover was a 650-ton Confederate States of America steamer that the United States Navy captured. After refitting the vessel, the Union used it as a hospital ship during the American Civil War.

Red Rover became the U.S. Navy's first hospital ship, serving the Mississippi Squadron until the end of the American Civil War. Her medical complement included nurses from the Catholic order Sisters of the Holy Cross, the first volunteer females to serve on board a Navy ship. In addition to caring for and transporting sick and wounded men, she provided medical supplies to Navy ships along the Western Rivers.^[1]