USS Violet
{{short description|Gunboat of the United States Navy}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Martha (1862 tugboat) cropped.jpg | Ship caption = The tugboat Martha prior to her service as USS Violet }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = United States | Ship flag = Image:US_Naval Jack 36 stars.svg {{USN flag|1862}} | Ship name = USS Violet | Ship namesake = | Ship owner = | Ship operator = | Ship registry = | Ship route = | Ship ordered = | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = Lawrence & Foulks, Williamsburg, NY | Ship original cost = $23,500 | Ship yard number = | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = | Ship acquired = 29 December 1862 | Ship commissioned = 29 January 1863 | Ship recommissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | 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 = Blown up to prevent capture, 8 August 1864 | Ship notes = | Ship badge = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = | Ship type = | Ship tonnage = | Ship displacement = 166 tons | Ship tons burthen = | Ship length = {{cvt|85|ft}} | Ship beam = {{cvt|19|ft|9|in}} | Ship height = | Ship draught = | Ship draft = | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = {{cvt|11|ft|in}} | Ship decks = | Ship deck clearance = | Ship ramps = | Ship ice class = | Ship power = Single-cylinder steam engine | Ship propulsion = Propeller | Ship sail plan = | Ship speed = | Ship range = | Ship endurance = | Ship test depth = | Ship boats = | Ship capacity = | Ship troops = | Ship complement = | Ship crew = | Ship time to activate = | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = {{ubl|2 × 12-pounder rifle|1 x 24-pounder|1 × torpedo (1864)}} | Ship armour = | Ship armor = | Ship aircraft = | Ship aircraft facilities = | Ship notes = }} |
USS Violet was a wooden-hulled, propeller-driven steamship, originally built as the tugboat Martha in 1862. She was purchased by the U.S. Navy in late 1862 for use in the American Civil War. She served on the U.S. East Coast in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America, most notably at the entrance to the Cape Fear River which led to Wilmington, North Carolina. There she had several encounters with blockade runners. In August 1864 she went aground under the guns of the Confederate fort guarding the western entrance to the river. Rather than risk Violet's capture, the ship was blown up by her own men.
Construction and characteristics
Martha was built at the shipyard of Lawrence & Foulks in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York.{{Cite news |date=July 19, 1862 |title=Ship Building In The Eastern District |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50406429/?match=1&terms=brooklyn |work=Brooklyn Eagle |pages=3}}{{Cite news |date=6 Feb 1863 |title=Naval |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/78621938/?match=1&terms=Martha%20Violet |work=New York Tribune |pages=5}} Her hull was built of wood. She was {{Convert|85|ft|m}} long, with a beam of {{cvt|19|ft|9|in}}, and a depth of hold of {{Convert|11|ft|m}}. She displaced 166 tons.{{Cite book |last=Marsh |first=C. C. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924051367062&seq=251&q1=violet |title=Official Records Of The Union And Confederate NaviesIn The War Of Rebellion |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1921 |series=II |volume=1 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=233}}
She had a single steam engine for propulsion. It was an inverted, direct-acting engine with a single cylinder which was {{Convert|30|in|cm}} in diameter, and a stroke of {{Convert|28|in|cm}}. Steam was produced by a single coal-fired boiler. The ship's machinery drove a single propeller.
Her naval complement was 20 men, led by an acting ensign.{{Cite book |last=Rawson |first=Edward K. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924051350878&seq=9&q1=violet |title=Official Records Of The Union And Confederate Navies In The War Of Rebellion |last2=Stewart |first2=Charles W. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1899 |series=I |volume=8 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=XVIII, 379, 631, 639, 706, 800, 801, 802}}
Purchase by the U.S. Navy
Martha was registered at the Port of New York on 24 December 1862.{{Cite book |last=Holdcamper |first=Forrest R. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Special_List_No_22_List_of_American_flag/NkFGpLPywg0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=martha |title=Special List No.22: List of American-flag Merchant Vessels that Received Certificates of Enrollment Or Registry at the Port of New York 1789-1867 |date=1968 |publisher=The National Archives |year=1968 |volume=II |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=450 |language=}} She was purchased for the Navy by Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding on 29 December 1862 for $23,500. Her name was changed to Violet upon the sale. Since only five days elapsed between her registration and purchase, it seems likely that Martha had no commercial career and was delivered to the Navy as a brand new ship.
She was readied for naval service at the Brooklyn Navy Yard{{Cite news |date=December 30, 1862 |title=A New Vessel Purchased and Turned Over to the Navy |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A163B896E7A0CE0B4%40GB3NEWS-17CC5F2AA33A7F5D%402401505-17C809F8050851C7%402-17C809F8050851C7%40?h=25&fname=&mname=&lname=&rgfromDate=1862&rgtoDate=1862&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&kwinc=Martha%20launch&kwexc=&page=1&sid=kyoxvthmbiufhflajdfrslojoynctqld_ip-10-166-46-132_1749836463984 |work=Journal of Commerce |pages=3}} and commissioned there on 29 January 1863. A heavy 12-pounder gun and a 12-pounder rifle were installed. Her battery was later upgraded to three guns, two 12-pounder rifles and a 24-pounder. In 1864 she was fitted with a spar torpedo, basically a bomb on a pole. This was criticized as unlikely to work beyond sheltered waters.{{Cite book |last=Rawson |first=Edward K. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924051350894&seq=7&q1=Violet |title=Official Records Of The Union And Confederate Navies In The War Of The Rebellion |last2=Stewart |first2=Charles W. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1900 |series=I |volume=10 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=288, 343}}
Civil War operations
On 1 February 1863, Violet arrived at Newport News, Virginia, for duty as a tugboat with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. During her time in Virginia there is one account of her carrying dispatches bound for General John J. Peck.{{Cite news |date=24 March 1864 |title=The Battlefield Of The Blackwater |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/884042258/?match=1&terms=%22steamer%20violet%22 |work=Litchfield Enquirer |pages=1}}
On 27 March 1863, she received orders to join the force blockading the Cape Fear River, commanded by Captain Charles S. Boggs. Violet was forced to return to Hampton Roads, Virginia, leaking badly, on 28 March 1863 after encountering a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. After making repairs, she sailed from Hampton Roads on 8 April 1863.
While Violet was consistently listed as a tug during her naval service, she was often used as an inshore blockade ship because of her shallow draft and relatively high speed. On the night of 11 April 1863, she was anchored in shallow water near the Cape Fear River when she was approached by an unidentified steamer. The ship turned to flee and Violet chased her, firing steadily, for forty-five minutes. Violet could not keep pace with the steamer and returned to her anchorage. Acting Ensign J. W. Bennett, Violet's captain, received a stern letter from Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee regarding various tactical mistakes which allowed the blockade runner to escape.
In the company of USS Aries, Violet discovered the blockade-running British steamer Ceres aground and burning at the mouth of the Cape Fear River on 6 December 1863. When Ceres floated free during the night, Violet seized her and extinguished the fire.{{Cite book |last=Rawson |first=Edward K. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924051350886&seq=370&q1=Violet |title=Official Records Of The Union And Confederate Navies In The War Of The Rebellion |last2=Stewart |first2=Charles W. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1899 |series=I |volume=9 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=336, 367, 598}}
Violet went aground on the western bar of the Cape Fear River on 20 December 1863 while attempting to refloat the blockade-running steamer Antonica. Violet lay aground for two nights and a day and there was concern that she would become a total loss. After her guns were heaved overboard, lightening the ship, she was successfully refloated.
File:USS Roanoke 1855 Ironclad.jpg
Early in 1864, Violet underwent repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard, and in April was assigned duty as a guard for the ironclad USS Roanoke at Newport News, Virginia. Her orders were to maintain a vigilant nighttime and foul weather guard over the ironclad and be prepared to tow the warship to safety or run down any enemy vessels in the event of a Confederate attack.
On 20 July 1864, she was reassigned to her old blockade force off the Cape Fear River, now under the command of Captain Oliver S. Glisson. There, on the night of 7 August 1864, she ran aground while cruising near the western bar. Despite the efforts of her crew and other nearby Navy vessels to float her off, the tides forced Violet harder aground. She was within the range of Confederate guns at Fort Caswell,{{Cite news |date=20 August 1864 |title=General Intelligence |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/78140006/?match=1&terms=violet%20%22Steam%20tug%22 |work=The Sun |pages=1}} and thus might be subject to capture as the new day dawned. Violet's captain was ordered to fire her magazine to prevent capture, and the vessel blew up on the morning of 8 August 1864. Acting Ensign Thomas Stothard, was subject to the required court of inquiry on the loss of his command, but Admiral Lee recommended that no action be taken against him, calling him a "very intelligent and efficient officer".{{Portal|American Civil War}}
References
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{{1864 shipwrecks}}
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Category:Ships of the Union Navy
Category:Ships built in Brooklyn
Category:Steamships of the United States Navy
Category:Gunboats of the United States Navy
Category:Torpedo boats of the United States Navy
Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States
Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War
Category:Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast