CSS Rappahannock
{{distinguish|text=the Confederate side-wheel gunboat of the same name}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=CSSRappahannock.jpg |Ship image size = 300px |Ship caption=CSS Rappahannock }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} |Ship name=Victor |Ship ordered=15 May 1855{{winfield}} |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Money Wigram & Son, Blackwall |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship launched=2 November 1855 |Ship commissioned=1 April 1856 |Ship fate=Sold to R. Gordon Coleman as Scylla in November 1863 and resold later the same month to the Confederacy |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Confederate States |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}} |Ship name=CSS Rappahannock |Ship namesake= |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder= |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=November 1864 |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=April 1865 |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Turned over to United States |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class={{sclass|Intrepid|gunvessel}} |Ship tons burthen=868 49/94 bm |Ship length={{convert|200|ft|m|abbr=on}} pp |Ship beam={{convert|30|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship hold depth={{convert|14|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship sail plan=Barque |Ship decks= |Ship power={{convert|1166|ihp|kW|lk=in|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=*2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engine
|Ship speed={{convert|11.6|kn|km/h}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship complement=100 |Ship armament=*As built (HMS Victor):
|Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
CSS Rappahannock, a steam sloop-of-war, was built at the Blackwall Yard on the River Thames by Money Wigram & Son in 1855 as an {{sclass|Intrepid|gunvessel}} for the Royal Navy and named HMS Victor. Although a handsomely modeled vessel, numerous defects occasioned her sale in 1863. An agent of the Confederate States Government purchased her ostensibly for the China trade, but British authorities suspected she was destined to be a Confederate commerce raider and ordered her detention. Nevertheless, she succeeded in escaping from Sheerness, England, on November 24, with workmen still on board and only a token crew. Her Confederate States Navy officers joined in the English Channel.
When he bought her from the Admiralty through his secret agent on November 14, Commander Matthew F. Maury had intended Rappahannock to replace the cruiser {{ship|CSS|Georgia|cruiser|6}} and was about to transfer Georgia{{'}}s guns to her. She was ideal for a cruiser — wooden-hulled and bark-rigged with two engines and a lifting screw propeller.
File:The Confederate Screw-Steamer Rappahannock lying at Calais Pier - ILN 1863.jpg
She was commissioned a Confederate man-of-war underway, but while passing out of the Thames Estuary her bearings burned out and she had to be taken across to Calais for repairs. There Lieutenant C. M. Fauntleroy, CSN, was placed in command. Detained on various pretexts by the French Government, Rappahannock never got to sea and was turned over to the United States at the close of the war.
References
{{reflist}}
{{DANFS}}
{{Intrepid class gunvessels}}
{{CSN Cruisers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rappahannock}}
Category:Cruisers of the Confederate States Navy
Category:Ships built by the Blackwall Yard