USS Shepherd Knapp

History
United States
Acquired	28 August 1861 at New York City
In service	1861
Fate	Wrecked 18 May 1863
General characteristics
Displacement	838 tons
Length	160 ft 10 in (49.02 m)
Beam	33 ft 8 in (10.26 m)
Draft	13 ft (4.0 m) (Light)
Depth of hold	22 ft 3 in (6.78 m)
Propulsion	sail
Complement	93
Armament	eight guns

USS Shepherd Knapp was a large (838-ton) ship with eight guns, purchased by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War.

With her eight guns and a crew of 93, she was employed by the Union Navy as a heavy gunboat outfitted to pursue major Confederate States of America blockade runners, especially Confederate Captain Raphael Semmes. Her limited ability as a sailing ship in pursuit of steam-powered adversaries was eventually recognised and a different strategy adopted: she became a decoy, disguised as an unarmed merchant ship sailing in areas where Confederate raiders were known to operate.

During the course of her fruitless searches for Semmes, she ran aground on a reef near Haiti and was abandoned.