USS Frolic
Confederate Blockade Runner Advance
Civil War Navy Ship

Advance (Blockade Running Steamer, 1863-1864)
Also called A.D. Vance

Advance , a 902-ton side-wheel steamer, was built at Greenock, Scotland, in 1862 for use as a River Clyde packet. Purchased by the State of North Carolina under the name Lord Clyde in 1863, she was renamed Advance (a name frequently given as A.D. Vance ), and put to work running the Federal blockade. She was one of the most successful Confederate blockade runners, making more than twenty voyages before her capture by USS Santiago de Cuba off Wilmington, North Carolina, on 10 September 1864. Taken into the United States Navy soon thereafter, she served as USS Advance until June 1865, when she was renamed Frolic .

USS Frolic operated as the Confederate blockade runner Advance from 1863 until her capture by USS Santiago de Cuba on 10 September 1864. Purchased by the U.S. Navy from the prize court in that month, she was commissioned as USS Advance in October 1864. During the rest of that year, and into 1865, she was active off the North Carolina coast and took part in the assaults on Fort Fisher in December 1864 and January 1865. Advance went to New York in March 1865 and was out of commission there until June, when she was placed back into service and renamed Frolic .

Frolic was then assigned to the European Squadron as a dispatch vessel, a mission for which she was well suited by virtue of her small size and good speed. Arriving at Flushing, the Netherlands, in July 1865, she operated in northern European waters and in the Mediterranean until 1869. Again out of commission from May to September 1869, Frolic 's next active service was patrolling the North Atlantic fishing grounds in April-October 1870. After another period in reserve, she operated off New England for several months in 1872 and was then station ship at New York. In 1875-77, she cruised in South American waters as a unit of the South Atlantic Squadron. Decommissioned for the last time in October 1877, USS Frolic was sold in October 1883. She was a civilian ship, retaining the name Frolic , for a few years after that.

Confederate Blockade Runner Advance
Photographed at Nassau, Bahamas, in 1863.
confederate blockade runner Advance

USS Frolic
At Naples, Italy, circa 1865-1869.
USS Frolic Confederate raider Advance







Ghost Ships of the Confederacy
History Channel DVD

Books
Civil War
Womens Subjects
Young Readers
Gettysburg
Colored Troops
Native Americans
Military History


 Confederate Store
Video Downloads
Civil War DVDs
Civil War VHS
Civil War Games
Civil War Music
Civil War Posters
Civil War Flags
Military Toys
Military Video Games
Military History DVDs
Military Magazines

Civil War Ships and Battles
Civil War Submarines
Civil War Naval Timeline
American Civil War Exhibits
State Battle Maps
Civil War Summary
Civil War Timeline
Women in the Civil War
Battles by Campaign

DVD DVD Book Book

Quest for the Monitor
The first group of non-governmental divers to dive the Monitor. All diving operations were conducted under the close supervision of NOAA.This was beautifully photographed by veteran lensman Ric O'Donnell and narrated and written by Jackie Stone. The video shows a lot of action both on the deck of the dive boat as well as wonderfully clear underwater views of the Monitor
Raise the Alabama
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, where the Alabama had gone for repairs.RAISE THE ALABAMA! descends into the murky depths of the English Channel with the marine archeology team led by the renowned Gordon Watts. 200 feet beneath these foreign waters, the legendary Confederate ship is surrendering her secrets, despite weather conditions that make it safe to dive only a few days a year. The program also documents the Alabama's extraordinary career, from her construction in Liverpool to the surprise attacks that made her the scourge of Union shipping and the valiant, 90-minute battle with the Kearsarge
War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
David Mindell has combined a sensitive and incisive reading of the documentary evidence with insightful historical analysis to illuminate not only his central theme, the experience of battle in an emerging machine age, but also the process of invention, negotiation, and politics that brought the Monitor into existence and the quite different process of narration, memory, and imagination that invested the ship and its exploits so heavily with symbolic meaning.
Life in Mr. Lincoln's Navy
Ringle is among the first to examine the many aspects of sailors' lives during the American Civil War. He examines topics such as the recruiting efforts of the U.S. Navy, compensation and promotion, training, entertainment, and disease to name but a few. The extensive research and sheer fact that this is one of the first books to examine this aspect of CW naval history makes it a must for any American naval library



American Military Gear Recruiter and History
United States Marines gear history and support of Semper Fi Fund

 

The Complete DVD History of U.S. Wars (1700-2004)
War has always been part of the American experience. From the time the first colonists set foot upon North America's shores, they were in conflict with the Native inhabitants. One hundred years later the colonies suddenly found themselves an extension of the conflicts in Europe. Less than a century later, the Revolutionary War freed the fledgling United States from its British overlords and European entanglements. Born and nurtured in war, America grew in strength and power until at the beginning of the 21st century it was the foremost military power in the world.

 

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