USS Housatonic, a 1930-ton Ossipee class steam screw sloop of war, was built at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts. Commissioned in August 1862, she arrived off Charleston, South Carolina, the following month to join United States' Navy forces blockading that Confederate seaport. During the next seventeen months, she played an active role, capturing or helping to capture several blockade runners, providing support for attacks on fortifications and otherwise assisting in operations against the Confederacy. On 17 February 1864, while anchored off Charleston, Housatonic was attacked by the submarine H.L. Hunley, gaining the unwanted distinction of becoming the first warship to be sunk by a submarine.

USS housatonic

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