The first USS Suwanee was a 3rd-rate gunboat commissioned by the Union Navy in its struggle against the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War.
Commissioned late in the war, Suwanee spent several weeks searching for the Confederate raider CSS Shenandoah without success. Suwanee was eventually wrecked off British Columbia in 1868.
Construction and design
Suwanee—a double-ended, iron-hulled, sidewheel-propelled gunboat—was built for the U.S. Navy by Reaney, Son & Archbold of Chester, Pennsylvania. She was 255 feet in length, with a beam of 35 feet, draft of 9 feet, hold depth of 12 feet and displacement of 1,030 tons.
Suwanee was powered by a 58-inch bore, 8-foot 9-inch stroke, inclined, direct-acting steam engine, fitted with a surface condenser. Steam was supplied by four boilers: two main boilers of the horizontal, tubular type, and two superheated. The ship was also rigged as a two-masted schooner for auxiliary sail power. Total cost of the vessel was $171,000.
Suwanee was launched on 13 March 1864, delivered to the Navy at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 14 December,