USS Shawmut (1863)

USS Shawmut in the Potomac River
History
United States
Laid down	2 February 1863
Launched	17 April 1863 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard
Acquired	16 October 1864 at New York City
Commissioned	on 1 November 1864 at the New York Navy Yard
Decommissioned	circa 22 January 1877 at the Norfolk Navy Yard
Stricken	1877 (est.)
Fate	Sold, 27 September 1877
General characteristics
Displacement	593 tons
Length	179 ft 6 in (54.71 m)
Beam	30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
Draught	not known
Propulsion	steam engine screw-propelled
Speed	11 knots
Complement	35
Armament	one 100-pounder Parrott rifle two 9" Dahlgren smoothbores one 30-pounder Parrott rifle two 24-pounder howitzers two 12-pounder rifles

USS Shawmut was a 593-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War.

Shawmut served the Union Navy primarily as a gunboat with howitzers for bombardment, and various other rifles and cannon for use at sea in apprehending blockade runners attempting to "run" the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.