USS Sweet Brier

History
United States
Laid down	date unknown
Launched	1862
Acquired	22 September 1863
Commissioned	25 January 1864
Decommissioned	13 July 1865
Stricken	1865 (est.)
Fate	Sold, 25 October 1865
General characteristics
Displacement	240 tons
Length	120 ft 0 in (36.58 m)
Beam	21 ft 3 in (6.48 m)
Draught	depth of hold 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m); draft 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m);
Propulsion	steam engine; screw-propelled;
Speed	9 knots
Complement	37
Armament	one 20-pounder Parrott rifle; one heavy 12-pounder smoothbore;

USS Sweet Brier was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

Sweet Briar was used by the Union Navy as an armed tugboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

Commissioned at New York City in 1862

Sweet Brier—a wooden screw tug built at Buffalo, New York, in 1862—was purchased by the Union Navy at New York City on 22 September 1863; and was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 25 January 1864.

Assigned to blockade duty with the South Atlantic blockade

The tug departed New York City on 3 February 1864, and arrived off Charleston, South Carolina, on 4 March and was assigned to blockade duty off that southern port.

On 8 July, she captured blockade running schooner Pocahontas off Charleston laden with cotton.

Sweet Brier continued to serve in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron through the end of the war and sailed north on 27 June 1865.

Post-war decommissioning, sale and subsequent maritime career

She was decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 13 July 1865 and was sold at public auction there on 25 October to D. T. Rowland. She was redocumented as Conqueror on 28 December 1866 and remained in merchant service until 1900.

References

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