View source for USS Southfield

{{short description|Gunboat of the United States Navy}}

{{Infobox ship
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
 |image= USSSouthfield wrecked.jpg
 |image_caption=USS ''Southfield'', sinking after a battle with [[CSS Albemarle|CSS ''Albemarle'']]
 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career
 |hide_header=
 |country=United States
 |flag=[[Image:US Naval Jack 36 stars.svg|48px|Union Navy Jack]]  {{USN flag|1861}}
 |name= USS ''Southfield''
 |namesake= 
 |ordered=
 |builder=  John English, [[Brooklyn]]
 |laid_down= 
 |launched= 1857
 |acquired=  
 |commissioned= December 1861
 |decommissioned= April 1864
 |in_service=
 |out_of_service=
 |struck= 
 |reinstated=
 |homeport=
 |motto=
 |nickname=
 |honours=
 |fate= Sunk by [[CSS Albemarle|CSS ''Albemarle'']], 19 April 1864
 |notes=
 }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics
 |hide_header=
 |header_caption=
 |type= [[Steamboat|Sidewheel gunboat]]
 |displacement= {{convert|750|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}
 |length= {{convert|200|ft|m|abbr=on}}
 |beam= {{convert|34|ft|m|abbr=on}}
 |draft= {{convert|6|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
 |hold_depth= {{convert|11|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}}
 |propulsion=[[Steam engine]] 
 |sail_plan=
 |speed= {{convert|12|kn|lk=in}}
 |range= 
 |complement=61 officers and men
 |sensors=
 |EW=
 |armament=*1 × 100-pounder [[Parrott rifle]]
           *3 × {{convert|8|in|0|abbr=on}} smoothbore [[Dahlgren gun]]s
 |armor=
 |notes=
 }}
}}
'''USS ''Southfield''''' was a double-ended, sidewheel steam [[gunboat]] of the [[Union Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. She was sunk in action against the Confederate ironclad ram [[CSS Albemarle|CSS ''Albemarle'']] during the [[Battle of Plymouth (1864)]].

''Southfield'' was built in 1857 at [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]] by John English, and served as a [[ferry]] between [[South Ferry (Manhattan)|South Ferry, New York]], and [[St. George, Staten Island]], until she was purchased by the [[U.S. Navy]] at New York City on December 16, 1861 from the New York Ferry Company. She was commissioned late in December 1861, Acting Volunteer [[Lieutenant]] [[Charles F. W. Behm]] in command.

==Service history==
===Battle of Roanoke Island, 1862===
The double-ended [[gunboat]] joined the [[North Atlantic Blockading Squadron]] at [[Hampton Roads]] on the afternoon of January 2, 1862. On January 11, [[Admiral]] [[Louis M. Goldsborough]] ordered ''Southfield'' to proceed to [[Hatteras Inlet]], [[North Carolina]], the staging area for an [[Battle of Roanoke Island|expedition against Roanoke Island]], which controlled navigation in the North Carolina sounds. The gunboat was detained at Hampton Roads awaiting troops to fill out her complement until about sunset on January 16 when she got underway south. She reached Hatteras Inlet the next day.

Great labor was required to get Goldsborough's ships and the [[U.S. Army]] transports over Hatteras bar. The last vessel entered the sounds on February 5, enabling the expedition to get underway.

The next morning, February 6, Goldsborough shifted his flag from the deep draft {{USS|Philadelphia|1861|6}} to ''Southfield'' since the double-ender was more nimble in shallow water. From her deck, he directed the attack on [[Confederate States|Confederate]] defenses, which began on the morning of February 7 with a heavy bombardment of [[Fort Bartow]] and was continued until dark. Late in the afternoon, Army troops under [[Brigadier General]] [[Ambrose Burnside]] landed under the cover of the naval gunfire.

The attack was resumed on the morning of February 8 and pressed until about midafternoon, when the [[United States flag|Union flag]] flew over Fort Bartow. Shortly thereafter, the Union ships managed to break through the Confederate obstruction and enter [[Albemarle Sound]].

The capture of Roanoke Island assured the Union forces free access to North Carolina's vast system of inland waterways and endangered the South's hold on much of North Carolina and [[Virginia]]. [[Norfolk, Virginia]], a Southern strong point of special strategic importance, was flanked; and, in a few months, it was abandoned.

Goldsborough was vigorous in exploiting the opening he had created by the conquest of Roanoke Island. Two days later, [[Elizabeth City, North Carolina]] was in Union hands. [[New Bern, North Carolina]] fell on March 14. [[Beaufort, North Carolina]] was captured by the end of April. ''Southfield'' played a major role in these Union conquests.

===Peninsula Campaign, 1862===
Late in May, her effort in behalf of the Union cause in North Carolina was interrupted by General [[George B. McClellan|George McClellan]]'s request for more naval assistance in his [[Peninsula Campaign|drive up the peninsula]] from [[Fort Monroe]] toward [[Richmond, Virginia]]. ''Southfield'' arrived at Hampton Roads on June 2 and devoted most of the summer to operations on the [[York River (Virginia)|York]] and [[James River (Virginia)|James Rivers]] which form the peninsula. At the end of August, after McClellan had evacuated his army, the double-ender was sent to the [[Norfolk Navy Yard]] for badly needed repairs before returning to the North Carolina sounds.

===Battle of Washington, 1863===
Back in fighting trim, ''Southfield'' departed Hampton Roads on December 2, arrived at Hatteras Inlet the next day, and proceeded to [[Plymouth, North Carolina]]. On the morning of December 10, she engaged a Confederate land force which attacked that city. A Southern shot pierced her steam chest, disabling her engine and filling the ship with hot steam. The scalding vapor prevented the gunboat's crew from reaching her magazine and thus made it impossible for her guns to continue their fire. Boats were lowered to pull the disabled ship downstream; but {{USS|Commodore Perry|1859|6}}, hearing the firing, steamed up, took ''Southfield'' in tow, and returned with her to Plymouth. By that time, the Confederate raiders had withdrawn.

On the last day of March 1863, Confederate troops [[Battle of Washington|attacked and besieged]] the Union garrison at [[Washington, North Carolina]]. ''Southfield'' was ordered from Plymouth to the scene of the action where she engaged the investing forces. She and other Union gunboats also carried supplies through the blockade to sustain the beleaguered Northern troops, finally forcing the Southern attackers to withdraw on April 16.

The next day, ''Southfield'' headed back for Plymouth and, for the following year of relative quiet in the sounds of North Carolina, labored to protect the Union's tenuous hold on the region.

===Battle of Plymouth, 1864===
In February 1864, Confederate forces attacked New Bern and captured the gunboat {{USS|Underwriter|1852|6}}. On the first day of March, ''Southfield'' and tinclad {{USS|Whitehead|1861|6}} ascended the [[Chowan River]] to assist Army steamer [[CSS Bombshell|USS ''Bombshell'']], which had been cut off by Confederates above [[Petty Shore]]. On March 2, they shelled the Southern batteries, enabling ''Bombshell'' to dash down to safety.

The air was rife with rumors that Rebel ironclad ram [[CSS Albemarle|CSS ''Albemarle'']] was ready to descend the [[Roanoke River]] to destroy the Union warships in the sounds. On the afternoon of April 17, [[Battle of Plymouth (1864)|Confederate ground forces attacked Plymouth]] with artillery and musketry. The Union gunboats in the vicinity helped to defend the town for the remainder of the day and throughout the next.

That night, in anticipation of an attack by ''Albemarle'', ''Southfield'' was brought alongside {{USS|Miami|1861|6}}, and the two ships were lashed together for mutual protection and concentration of firepower. Before dawn on the morning of April 19, ''Albemarle'' emerged from the Roanoke. ''Miami'' and ''Southfield'' raced toward her. When the three ships collided, the ram scraped across ''Miami's'' bow, smashed through ''Southfield's'' starboard side, and pierced the wooden gunboat's boiler. For a moment, both ''Miami'' and ''Albemarle'' were entangled with the fatally wounded double-ender. The forward ropes which had lashed ''Southfield'' to ''Miami'' were snapped by the collision, and the aft lines were cut by ''Miami'''s crew. ''Albemarle'' had a harder time extricating herself from her bested and rapidly sinking adversary.

Before she could pull free from the wreck by backing her engines, the ram had taken on so much water that her forward deck was too far depressed to permit her to overtake ''Miami'' or to let her guns open fire on the departing side-wheeler. Thus, in sinking, ''Southfield'' saved her consort.

==References==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}

{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s15/southfield.htm}}

{{coord missing|North Carolina}}
{{1864 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southfield}}
[[Category:Ships of the Union navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Gunboats of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in rivers]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:1857 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in April 1864]]
[[Category:Ships sunk in collisions]]