USS Gamma

History
United States
Name	USS Gamma
Ordered	as R. F. Loper
Laid down	date unknown
Launched	1863
Acquired	3 June 1864
Commissioned	1864
Decommissioned	1865
Stricken	1865 (est.)
Fate	Sold, 25 October 1865
General characteristics
Displacement	36 tons
Length	65 ft (20 m)
Beam	14 ft (4.3 m)
Draught	depth of hold 6 ft (1.8 m)
Propulsion	steam engine screw-propelled
Speed	12 knots
Complement	not known
Armament	eight Enfield rifles one spar torpedo

USS Gamma was a small steamer acquired by the Union Navy during close of the American Civil War.

She was employed by the Navy as a tugboat and, since she carried a spar torpedo, as a torpedo boat, capable of ramming and sinking another ship with her explosive torpedo.

Constructed as a tugboat in 1863

Gamma was built in 1863 as steamer R. F. Loper at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.; purchased there 3 June 1864; renamed Gamma, but was also called Tug Number 3 and Picket Boat Number 3.

Assigned to the James River

Gamma was assigned as a picket boat in the James River. She arrived at New Bern, North Carolina, from the James River 3 April 1865.

Placed at the disposal of General William Tecumseh Sherman's quartermaster, she served in the sounds of North Carolina until close of the Civil War.

Post-war decommissioning, sale, and subsequent career

She was sold by public auction at New York City 25 October 1865 to D. Trundy. Redocumented as merchant steamer Peter Smith 13 December 1865, she burned at New York City 9 May 1893.

References

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.