USS Shenandoah Wooden Hull Sloop, built in 1863. Admiral Hood served on board as a midshipman from 1875 to 1877.
USS Shenandoah Wooden Hull Sloop:
The first USS Shenandoah was a wooden hull sloop, propelled by a single screw. She was launched at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 8 December 1862 and commissioned on 20 June 1863. Displacing 1,375 tons and 225 feet long, she spent the next 18 months cruising off the East Coast searching and engaging Confederate raiders and reinforcing the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In December, she moved just off Fort Fisher, which was the protecting fort for Wilmington, North Carolina. She distinguished herself in the ensuing bombardment of the fort, which lasted for the next three weeks until the fort fell to the largest amphibious operation prior to those mounted in WW II.
After the war's end (1865-1869), she saw service with the South American Squadron and the Asiatic Squadron (forerunner of today's Seventh Fleet) and surveyed several Japanese and Chinese ports which were opened to trade.
From 1870-1874, Shenandoah served with the European forces spreading goodwill for America throughout the Mediterranean. On Christmas day 1872, Shenandoah served as host to the King and Queen of Greece. On her return voyage from Europe, she visited Caribbean ports.
Shenandoah was assigned duty with the South Atlantic Squadron from 1879-1882 and the South Pacific Squadron from 1883-1886. Her presence in South American waters greatly aided the security and protection of United States interest and citizens. She was decommissioned at Mare Island 23 October 1886 and sold to a shipping firm in California.
