USS Atlanta (1861)

A sepia wash drawing of CSS Atlanta by R.G. Skerrett
History
United Kingdom
Name	Fingal
Namesake	Fingal
Owner	Hutcheson's West Highland Service
Builder	J&G Thomson's Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard, Govan, Glasgow
Launched	9 May 1861
Fate	Sold to the Confederacy, 1861
General characteristics
Tons burthen	About 700 tons (bm)
Length	189 ft (57.6 m)
Beam	25 ft (7.6 m)
Draft	12 ft (3.7 m)
Depth of hold	15 ft (4.6 m)
Installed power	1 Tubular boiler
Propulsion	1 Shaft 2 Direct-acting steam engines
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Confederate States
United States
Name	CSS/USS Atlanta
Namesake	Atlanta
Builder	Asa and Nelson Tift, Savannah, Georgia
Acquired	September 1861
Commissioned	22 November 1862
Decommissioned	21 June 1865
Captured	17 June 1863, transferred to US Navy in February 1864
Fate	Sold to Haiti, 4 May 1869. Lost at sea, December 1869
General characteristics
Type	Casemate ironclad
Displacement	1,006 long tons (1,022 t)
Length	204 ft (62.2 m)
Beam	41 ft (12.5 m)
Draft	15 ft 9 in (4.8 m)
Depth of hold	17 ft (5.2 m)
Speed	7–10 knots (13–19 km/h; 8.1–11.5 mph)
Complement	145 officers and men
Armament	2 × 7-inch (178 mm) Brooke rifles 2 × 6.4-inch (163 mm) Brooke rifles 1 x Spar torpedo Naval ram
Armor	Casemate: 4 in (102 mm) Hull: 2 in (51 mm) Pilothouse: 4 in (102 mm)

Atlanta was a casemate ironclad that served in the Confederate and Union Navies during the American Civil War. She was converted from a British-built blockade runner named Fingal by the Confederacy after she made one run to Savannah, Georgia. After several failed attempts to attack Union blockaders, the ship was captured by two Union monitors in 1863 when she ran aground. Atlanta was floated off, repaired, and rearmed, serving in the Union Navy for the rest of the war. She spent most of her time deployed on the James River supporting Union forces there. The ship was decommissioned in 1865 and placed in reserve. Several years after the end of the war, Atlanta was sold to Haiti, but was lost at sea in December 1869 on her delivery voyage.