USS Vanderbilt
USS Vanderbilt in port during the Civil War | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USS Vanderbilt |
| Namesake | Cornelius Vanderbilt |
| Builder | J. Simonson |
| Cost | $800,000 |
| Laid down | 1856 |
| Launched | 1857 at Greenpoint, New York |
| Acquired | 24 March 1862 |
| Commissioned | September 1862 |
| Decommissioned | 30 June 1866 |
| In service | 13 October 1866 |
| Out of service | 24 May 1867 |
| Stricken | 1873 (est.) |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 3,360 tons |
| Length | 331 ft (101 m) |
| Beam | 47 ft 6 in (14.48 m) |
| Draught | 19 ft (5.8 m) |
| Installed power | Twin vertical beam steam engines |
| Propulsion | Sidewheel |
| Speed | 14 knots |
| Complement | not known |
| Armament |
|
USS Vanderbilt was a heavy (3,360-ton) passenger steamship obtained by the Union Navy during the second year of the American Civil War and utilized as a cruiser.
Vanderbilt—with her high speed of 14 knots—was outfitted with a large battery of heavy guns and sent out on the high seas in a futile search for commerce raiders of the Confederate States of America which were inflicting serious damage to Union commercial shipping. Later she served as part of the Union blockade of the Confederacy, and, post war, she had the honor of transporting the Queen of Hawaii from San Francisco, California, to Hawaii.