USS Choctaw (ram)

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Career
Laid down:	1853
Launched:	1856
Commissioned:	23 March 1863
Fate:	sold
Struck:	28 March 1866
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1004 tons
Length:	260 feet
Beam:	45 feet
Draft:	8 feet
Speed:	2 knots upstream
Complement:	106 officers and men
Armament:	one 100-pounder rifle, three nine-inch smoothbore cannon, two 30-pounder rifles

USS Choctaw, a sidewheel steamer, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Choctaw Indian tribe, formerly of Alabama and Mississippi, now resident in Oklahoma. She was built for the merchant service; her keel was laid down at New Albany, Indiana, in 1853. She was launched in 1856. She was purchased by the United States Army in 27 September 1862 and converted into an ironclad ram, then transferred to commissioned into the United States Navy at St. Louis, Missouri on 23 March 1863 with Lieutenant Commander F. M. Ramsay in command.

From 23 April 1863, until the end of the war, Choctaw operated in the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Between 29 April and 1 May 1863, she stood up the Yazoo River[?] for a feigned attack on Haynes' Bluff, Mississippi[?], designed to prevent the Confederates from reinforcing Grand Gulf[?]. During this action, she was struck 53 times. Remaining in the Yazoo, she took part in attacks with the Army which led to the destruction of Confederate works at Haynes' Bluff and the burning of the navy yard and ships lying there, at Yazoo City, between 18 May and 23 May. On 6 June and 7 June, she joined in repelling a Confederate attack at Millkin's Bend, Louisiana[?], after which she rescued a large number of Confederates from the river and sent them in as prisoners. Between 7 March and 15 May 1864, she took part in the operations leading to the capture of Fort DeRussy[?].

Choctaw arrived at Algiers, Louisiana[?], on 20 July 1865, and was placed out of commission on 22 July 1865. She was sold at New Orleans, Louisiana on 28 March 1866.

See USS Choctaw[?] for other ships of the same name.

References

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.