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USS Nipsic, an 836-ton Kansas class screw steam
gunboat, was built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine.
Commissioned in September 1863, she served with the South Atlantic
Blockading Squadron during the remainder of the Civil War. In
later 1863 and early 1864, Nipsic participated in operations
against Murrells Inlet and Georgetown, South Carolina. In June
1864, she captured a sailing blockade runner.
Following the Civil War, Nipsic operated off South America
and in the West Indies area. In about 1869, she was rerigged from
two masts to three and otherwise altered to improve sailing qualities.
In 1870, she participated in survey operations along the Central
American coast. Nipsic was decommissioned in 1873 and subsequently
broken up, though officially she was "rebuilt" as a
new, and rather larger, Adams
class gunboat.
This page features our only view of USS Nipsic (1863-1873).
Photo #: NH 64694
USS Nipsic (1863-1873)
In Limon Bay, Panama, during the Darien Expedition, 1870.
Courtesy of The Rev. William D. Henderson, 1967.
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Photo #: NH 45212
Nipsic class gunboat
At the Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia, circa the
late 1860s or early 1870s. The Yard's western shiphouse is in
the background.
This ship is either Nipsic (1863-1873) in her configuration
of 1869-1873, or Yantic (1864-1929) in her configuration
of 1872-1897. Nipsic was rebuilt at the Washington Navy
Yard in 1869.
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Two other photographs have been published of USS Nipsic,
both taken on board her during the Civil War. These are described
below:
1: View of Nipsic's 150-pounder Parrott rifled pivot
gun, trained out to port with its crew at stations. Photographed
from the ship's forecastle, looking aft along the port side.
2: View looking forward along Nipsic's port side from
her quarter deck, with a Dahlgren howitzer on a pivot mounting
in the foreground. The ship's 150-pounder Parrott rifle is visible
in the distance, as is the 30-pounder Parrot rifle on her forecastle.
Both of these photographs were printed in page 107 of "The
Old Steam Navy, Volume I: Frigates, sloops and gunboats, 1815-1885",
by Donald L. Canney (published by the U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis,
Maryland, 1990). They are credited to the U.S. Army Military
History Institute, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. |
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