USS ''Isonomia'' was a

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

in the

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during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Originally built as a passenger steamboat intended for merchant service under the name ''Shamrock'', the vessel was purchased at

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from Charles S. Leary on 16 July 1864. She was commissioned at

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on 16 August 1864.

Service history

''Isonomia'' sailed for

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on 19 August and arrived there 23 August to join the

North Atlantic Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...

. She served off

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, until ordered to

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

on 18 September with special instructions to cruise in the vicinity of

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and the

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. At Key West she was found unready for sea service and stationed at West Pass, Florida, where she operated until 15 November when she returned to Key West to prepare for cruising in Bahama waters. At the end of January 1865 ''Isonomia'' was returned to coastal blockade duty off western

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and continued this duty until the end of the war. She captured the

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''George Douthwaite'' which attempted to slip into the Warrior River with a cargo of sugar, rum, wool, ginger, and mahogany from

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. Towing , she sailed for New York on 9 June 1865 where she was decommissioned 28 June 1865 and was sold at

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to Tabor & Co. on 12 July 1865. Subsequently, she became the merchant steamer ''City of Providence'', and was later sold to foreign interests in 1867. As of 2007, no other ship of the US Navy has been named ''Isonomia''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isonomia Steamships of the United States Navy Ships of the Union Navy 1860s ships