USS Adela Civil War Union Navy Ship

USS Adela
Civil War Union Naval Ship

USS Adela (1863-1865)

Adela , a 585-ton iron side-wheel steamer, was originally built in the United Kingdom as a merchant vessel. On 7 July 1862, while in the Bahamas in anticipation of employment running the Federal blockade of the Confederacy, she was captured by USS Quaker City and USS Huntsville . Taken to Key West, Florida, she was condemned by the Prize Court there and, in May 1863, purchased by the U.S. Navy to be fitted out as a gunboat. She was commissioned as USS Adela by mid-June. Her first mission, lasting from mid-June into early July 1863, was to take part in the search for the Confederate cruisers Florida , Clarence and Tacony in the waters off the U.S. east coast.

Late in July, Adela was sent south to Key West to join the blockade of western Florida. On 16-17 October 1863, Adela and the gunboat Tahoma bombarded enemy fortifications at Tampa, covering the landing of men from both ships who proceeded inland to burn the blockade runners Scottish Chief and Kate Dale . Ambushed as it was returning, this landing force suffered the loss of several of its members before the rest could be reembarked. For the next year, Adela blockaded off St. George's Sound and St. Mark's, Florida, capturing the schooner Badger on 6 November 1864. Sent north later in November, the gunboat was under repair at New York until March 1865 and was then part of the Potomac Flotilla. USS Adela was decommissioned shortly after the end of the Civil War and was sold at the end of November 1865.

Drawing by George H. Rogers, depicting the ship "on blockading service off the coast of Florida, winter of 1863".
The artist served on board Adela as a Pharmacist's Mate.
Courtesy of Charles Rodgers Lord.

War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
The experience of the men aboard the Monitor and their reactions to the thrills and dangers that accompanied the new machine. The invention surrounded men with iron and threatened their heroism, their self-image as warriors, even their lives

Naval Strategies of the Civil War: Confederate Innovations and Federal Opportunism
Compare and contrast the strategies of the Southern Secretary of the Navy, Mallory, against his rival in the North, Welles. Mallory used technological innovation and the skill of individuals to bolster the South's seapower against the Union Navy's superior numbers

American Civil War Naval Book Titles
Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad: Hampton Roads 1862 The Ironclad was a revolutionary weapon of war. Although iron was used for protection in the Far East during the 16th century, it was the 19th century and the American Civil War that heralded the first modern armored self-propelled warships. Release date Nov. 2008	Year on a Monitor and the Destruction of Fort Sumter Personal view of the Civil War Navy. The monitor saw action in several significant naval assaults by the Union's Squadron. It took part in the failed Federal attack on Sumter in April 1863. The "Nahant" also participated in the capture of the Confederate Ram "Atlanta," and in the assault on Fort Wagner	Confederate Phoenix: The CSS Virginia The CSS Virginia of the Confederate States Navy destroyed two of the most formidable warships in the U.S. Navy. Suddenly, with this event, every wooden warship in every navy in the world became totally obsolete	War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor The experience of the men aboard the Monitor and their reactions to the thrills and dangers that accompanied the new machine. The invention surrounded men with iron and threatened their heroism, their self-image as warriors, even their lives

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles
Halls of Honor The U.S. Navy Museum takes you on an informed and entertaining romp through one of North America s oldest and finest military museums. The museum has been in continuous operation at the Washington Navy Yard since the American Civil War	Raise The Alabama She was known as "the ghost ship." During the Civil War, the CSS Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles and captured more than 60 Union vessels. But her career came to an end in June of 1864 when she was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Northern France	The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one	Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress
US Naval Archives

USS Adela Civil War Union Naval Ship

USS Adela (1863-1865)

USS Adela
Civil War Union Naval Ship