USS Keystone State
USS Keystone State
Namesake: State of Pennsylvania
Owner: Philadelphia and Savannah Steam Navigation Company
Builder: Vaughn & Lynn, Philadelphia
Launched: 18 June 1853
Acquired: Chartered, 19 April 1861
Purchased, 10 June 1861
Commissioned: 19 July 1861
Decommissioned: 10 June 1863
Recommissioned: 3 October 1863
Decommissioned: 25 March 1865
Fate: Sold, 15 September 1865
Fate: Broken up in 1874
​
Characteristics
​
Type: Sidewheel steamer gunboat
Displacement: 1,364 long tons
Length: 220 ft.
Beam: 35 ft.
Draft: 14 ft. 6 in.
Depth of Hold: 21 ft. 10 in.
Propulsion: Steam engine
sidewheel-propelled
Sail plan: Bark
​
Armament
​
4 x 32-pounder guns
30-pounder Parrott rifle
50-pounder Parrott rifle
​
​
Battles
​
Took 115 women and children from Norfolk to New York who were fleeing the South
Gulf Blockading Squadron
Captured blockade runner Salvor
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron
Captured British schooner Mars
Forced schooner Liverpool ashore and burned it
Captured British steamer Elizabeth and Cora
Captured schooner Sarah and Catalina
CSS Palmetto State and Chicora battle disabling her machinery
North Atlantic Blockading Squadron
1st Battle of Fort Fisher
2nd Battle of Fort Fisher
​
​
​​
Ships Captured by the USS Keystone State during Blockade Duty
​
Prize Date Location
​
Hiawatha 19 May 1861 Off Norfolk
Salvor 14 October 1861 Off Dry Tortugas
Mars 5 February 1862 Off Fernandina
Dixie 15 April 1862 Off Georgetown
Elizabeth 29 May 1862 Off Charleston
Cora 31 May 1862 Off Charleston
Sarah 20 June 1862 Off Charleston
Catalina 20 June 1862 Off Charleston
Fanny 22 August 1862 Off St. Simons
Annie Dees 17 November 1862 Off Charleston
Margaret and 5 November 1863 Off Wilmington
Jessie
Caledonia 30 May 1864 Off Wilmington
Siren 5 June 1864 South Cape Lookout
Rouen 2 July 1864 at sea
Lilian 24 August 1864 Off Wilmington
Elsie 5 September 1864 Off Wilmington
​
​