USS Pink

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Ship Information (from DANFS)¹,²:

Name: USS Pink	Type: Screw Tug	Tonnage: 184
Length: 110’4”	Beam: 24’6”	Draught: Not Listed.
Speed: Not Listed.	Complement: 24 men	Class: Not Listed.
Armament: December 31, 1864: 1 30-pdr. Parrott rifle, 2 heavy 12-pdr. Smoothbores
Namesake: A genus of annual or perennial herbs often cultivated for their showy flowers.

Images:

Image Needed

 

Captain(s):
Captain 1
Captain Image

Captain 2
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Captain 3
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First Offensive Order of Battle (June 13-18, 1864): James River. Va. | North Atlantic Blockading Squadron | Union Navy (June 17, 1864)³

• Captain:
• Crew Strength:
• Armament:
• Note: On June 17, 1864, this ship is noted as a “transport, waiting for guns” and lovated “above Wilson’s Wharf” on the James River.⁴

Second Offensive Order of Battle (June 19-30, 1864):

• Captain:
• Crew Strength:
• Armament:
• Note: Eutaw, Tecumseh, Tritonia, Pink, Rose, and Althea were ordered to leave the front for Hampton Roads on June 23, 1864. The latter four vessels, all tugs, were to be repaired by Captain Gansevoort prior to being sent on to their destinations.⁵

Third Offensive Order of Battle (July 1-31, 1864):

• Captain:
• Crew Strength:
• Armament:
• Note: USS Pink left the James River area with sister tugs Tritonia, Athenia, and Rose on July 26, 1864 and joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in Mississippi Sound on August 5. She never returned to the Siege of Petersburg.⁶

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle (August 1-31, 1864):

• Not Present

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle (September 1-October 13, 1864):

• Not Present

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle (October 14-31, 1864):

• Not Present

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle (November 1-December 31, 1864):

• Not Present
• Armament: 1 x 30-pdr. Parrott rifle, 2 x heavy 12-pdr. Smoothbores (December 31, 1864)⁷

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle (January 1-February 28, 1865):

• Not Present

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle (March 1-April 2, 1865):

• Not Present

 

Siege of Petersburg Battles:

• TBD

 

Siege of Petersburg Involvement:⁸

Pink, a wooden screw tug built in 1863 as Zouave at Newburgh, N.Y., was purchased by the Navy 14 December 1863 from New York and Glen Cove Steam Navigation Co.; and commissioned 6 February 1864, Acting Master John B. Dicks in command.

The new tug sailed for the gulf early in April 1864 but was detained in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the spring and early summer for repairs at Norfolk and service as a small transport on the James. She resumed her voyage south with sister tugs Tritonia, Athenia, and Rose 26 July [1864] and joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in Mississippi Sound on 5 August [1864], the day of Admiral Farragut’s great victory in Mobile Bay. She supported Union operations, primarily in Mobile Bay, until after the end of the Civil War. While steaming from New Orleans toward Mobile, Pink ran aground on Dauphin Island before dawn 22 September 1865 and bilged beyond salvage.

 

Bibliography:

Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

• MAP: Ship Locations of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron on the James River, June 17, 1864
• MAP: Ship Locations on the James River, June 17, 1864, Part 2: Bermuda Hundred to Coggins Point
• MAP: Ship Locations on the James River, June 17, 1864, Part 3: Coggins Point to Wilson’s Wharf
• ORN Series 1, Vol. X: Union Telegrams to and from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, June 1864
• ORN Series 1, Vol. X: Report of Acting Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee giving Stations of Vessels in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, June 17, 1864

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