USS Princess Royal
{{short description|Gunboat of the United States Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=USS Princess Royal.jpg |Ship caption=USS Princess Royal }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}} |Ship name=Princess Royal |Ship namesake= |Ship owner=*1861–1862: M Langlands & Sons, Glasgow
|Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Tod & McGregor, Glasgow, Scotland |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number=111 |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=20 June 1861 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service=25 July 1861 |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=by Union Navy forces on 29 January 1863 |Ship fate= |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|1865}} |Ship name=*1863–1865: Princess Royal
|Ship namesake= |Ship owner=*1863–1865: United States Navy
|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=18 March 1863 |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned=c21 July 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=Sold, 17 August 1865, sank, 9 January 1874 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship type= |Ship tonnage=652 GRT and 494 NRT |Ship displacement=828 tons |Ship tons burthen= |Ship length={{convert|199|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|27|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship ice class= |Ship power= |Ship propulsion=*2-cylinder steam engine
|Ship sail plan= |Ship speed=11 knots |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship test depth= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship troops= |Ship complement=not known |Ship crew= |Ship time to activate= |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament=*two 30-pounder Parrott rifles
|Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
Princess Royal was a British merchant ship and blockade runner that became a cruiser in the Union Navy during the American Civil War and later returned to civilian service.
British merchant service
Princess Royal was launched on 20 June 1861 by the Glasgow shipbuilders Tod & McGregor in 1861 as a passenger-cargo ship for the Liverpool services of M Langlands & Sons, Glasgow, their first iron screw steamer. She measured 652 gross and 494 net register tons, with a length of {{convert|200.5|ft|m|abbr=on}}, breadth {{convert|28.2|ft|m|abbr=on}} and depth of hold {{convert|15.5|ft|m|abbr=on}}. The ship was powered by a two-cylinder steam engine of 150-170 nhp driving a single propeller. She was registered at Glasgow and entered service in July 1861.{{cite web|last1=Macgregor|first1=Gregor|title=Princess Royal|url=http://www.gregormacgregor.com/Tod&Macgregor/princess_royal_115.htm|website=Tod & Macgregor Shiplist|access-date=20 August 2015}}{{cite web|title=Princess Royal|url=http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=22597|website=The Clyde Built Ships|publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust|access-date=20 August 2015}}
In 1863 the Confederate Government had major contracts for large and specialised British manufactures, including steam engines and boilers for ironclads under construction at Charleston, South Carolina, heavy artillery and armament-making machinery. The government's UK representative, Fraser, Trenholm & Co, arranged the purchase of Princess Royal by private investors to carry these and other supplies direct to Charleston.{{cite book|title=Lifeline of the Confederacy (pbk ed.)|author=Wise, Stephen R|year=1991|location=Columbia SC|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=0-87249-799-2|pages=118–119}} The ship sailed from London on 8 December 1862 but called at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Federal spies gained valuable information on the ship and her cargo.{{cite book|title=The London Confederates|author=Bennett, John D|year=2008|location=Jefferson NC|publisher=McFarland & Co|isbn=978-0-7864-6901-7|page=81}}{{cite book|title=In Armageddon's Shadow (pbk ed.)|author=Marquis, Greg|year=2000|location=Montreal|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|isbn=0-7735-2079-1|page=54}} After a further call at Bermuda, Princess Royal sailed for Charleston, but in the early hours of 29 January 1863 she was seen as she approached the port entrance by the Federal blockade squadron and forced aground. The captain, pilot and some passengers and crew were able to escape before boarding parties from USS Unadilla and G. W. Blunt could arrive. The ship was sent to the Philadelphia Prize court for adjudication.
Post war
USS Princess Royal, now measuring 932 grt, was purchased by William F Weld & Co of Boston, renamed Sherman after the Federal general, and put onto the Boston-New York-New Orleans service.{{cite book|title=American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping|year=1866|location=New York|publisher=Thomas D Taylor|url=http://library.mysticseaport.org/initiative/SPSearch.cfm?ID=659505|page=677}}Some sources claim that this ship was the same as that involved in the General Sherman incident in Korea in 1866. That ship was a much smaller, side-paddle, wood hulled vessel which was destroyed by fire in the incident.
On 8 January 1874, on a voyage from New York to New Orleans, Sherman sprang a leak off the North Carolina coast and anchored near Little River. The following day she sank off Cape Fear.[https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/princess-royal.html DAFNS Ships History "Princess Royal"] The passengers and crew were saved, along with some cargo.{{cite news|title=Shipping|date=27 January 1874|location=Liverpool|work=Liverpool Mercury|issue=8119|page=3}}[https://archive.org/details/historyamerican00morrgoog/page/n496 History of American Steam Navigation] (1908), p.496. Accessed August 24, 2018]
See also
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DANFS|https://web.archive.org/web/20140819190021/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p11/princess_royal.htm}}
Notes
{{reflist|group=note}}
External links
- [https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-63000/NH-63848.html USS Princess Royal (1863–1865) - Naval Historical Center {Note Incorrectly listed as the "General Sherman" postwar Korea incident ]
{{1874 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Princess Royal}}
Category:Ships of the Union Navy
Category:Cruisers of the United States Navy
Category:Steamships of the United States Navy
Category:Gunboats of the United States Navy
Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States
Category:Ships built on the River Clyde