USS Lenapee
{{Short description|American Navy vessel}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = U.S.S. Lenapee.png | Ship caption = U.S.S. Lenapee }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = United States | Ship flag = {{USN flag|1862}} | Ship name = | Ship namesake = | Ship builder = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = 28 May 1863 | Ship completed = | Ship commissioned = 30 December 1864 | Ship decommissioned = 17 October 1867 | Ship fate = sold, 26 August 1868 }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = |Ship class={{sclass|Sassacus|gunboat}} | Ship displacement = 974 tons | Ship length = {{convert|205|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|35|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship draft= {{convert|7|ft|11|in|m|abbr=on}} | Ship power = | Ship propulsion = *steam engine
| Ship sail plan = | Ship speed = {{convert|12|kn|lk=in}} | Ship range = | Ship complement = 147 | Ship armament = *two 100-pounder Parrott rifles }} |
USS Lenapee was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a tugboat.
Service history
Lenapee, a wooden double-ended sidewheel gunboat, was launched 28 May 1863 by Edward Lupton, Brooklyn, New York; and commissioned 30 December 1864, Lt. Comdr. Samuel Magaw in command. Lenapee joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Beaufort, North Carolina, 23 January 1865 and was ordered to Cape Fear River for final operations against Wilmington, North Carolina. In the weeks that followed she did reconnaissance and patrol work while Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter and Major General Terry marshaled their forces for an attack on Fort Anderson.
On 7 February, as Brigadier General John M. Schofield advanced from Smithville with 8,000 men, Porter attacked Fort Anderson by water. Lenapee, {{USS|Montauk|1862|6}}, {{USS|Pawtuxet|1864|6}}, {{USS|Unadilla|1861|6}}, and {{USS|Pequot|1863|6}} shelled the defensive works. The next day the Union ships moved in closer and kept up a heavy fire until the dogged Confederate defenders were at last forced to evacuate the fort under cover of darkness. After Wilmington had fallen 22 February, Lenapee was one of three ships ordered to remain in the Cape Fear River to defend the town and to help clear the navigable waters around Wilmington of obstructions. There she served until after the end of the Civil War, retained at Wilmington through 1866 as protection against civil riots. Lenapee decommissioned 17 October 1867 and was sold at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to E. Stannard 26 August 1868.
References
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l5/lenapee.htm}}
{{Sassacus class gunboat}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenapee}}
Category:Ships of the Union Navy
Category:Ships built in Brooklyn