USS Wabash (Steam-Screw Frigate)
Built at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, the steam-screw frigate, USS Wabash, was commissioned on August 18, 1856, and departed to serve as the flagship of the Home Squadron. In May 1858, she became the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron for two years and then decommissioned. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, she was recommissioned and became the flagship of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron and participated in the capture of the Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina, and Port Royal, South Carolina. In 1862, she became the flagship of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and took part in the blockade of Charleston, South Carolina. After an overhaul at Norfolk Navy Yard in late 1864, Wabash joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and participated in the assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina. Following the war, she was placed in ordinary service and was recommissioned in October 1871. Wabash became the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron once again and served until November 1873. Decomissioned in 1874, she was placed in ordinary service the following year and then served as a housed-over receiving ship at Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, from 1876 to 1912. Wabash was struck from the Navy List in November 1912 and sold the same month.
A model of Wabash can be found in the Civil War section of the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.
Image: NH 57522: USS Wabash (1861-1912), 1900. Artwork by R.G. Skerrett, depicting the steam-screw frigate during the Civil War. NHHC Photograph Collection.
