# Atlantic Blockading Squadron > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Atlantic_Blockading_Squadron > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Atlantic_Blockading_Squadron.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Blockading_Squadron > Source revision: 1328623374 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Atlantic Blockading Squadron Capture of the Forts at Cape Hatteras Inlet by Alfred R. Waud, artist, August 28, 1861. Active 1861 Country United States Branch United States Navy Type naval squadron Military unit The **Atlantic Blockading Squadron** was a unit of the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) created in the early days of the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) to enforce the [Union blockade](/source/Union_blockade) of the ports of the [Confederate States](/source/Confederate_States_of_America). It was formed in 1861 and split up the same year for the creation of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. ## History ### American Civil War Main articles: [Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries](/source/Battle_of_Hatteras_Inlet_Batteries) and [Battle of Port Royal](/source/Battle_of_Port_Royal) Following [President](/source/President_of_the_United_States) [Abraham Lincoln’s](/source/Abraham_Lincoln) proclamation of a [blockade](/source/Union_blockade) of Southern ports on April 19, 1861, the [Navy Department](/source/United_States_Department_of_the_Navy) found it necessary to subdivide the territory assigned to the [Home Squadron](/source/Home_Squadron). This resulted in the creation of the Coast Blockading Squadron and the Gulf Blockading Squadron in early May 1861.[1] *Warships of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron bombarding Port Royal, South Carolina, in November 1861.* In orders sent on May 1, 1861 [Secretary of the Navy](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Navy) [Gideon Welles](/source/Gideon_Welles) appointed [Flag Officer](/source/Flag_Officer) [Silas H. Stringham](/source/Silas_H._Stringham) to command the Coast Blockading Squadron. Stringham received this order and took command on May 4, 1861. His new command was to be headquartered at [Hampton Roads](/source/Hampton_Roads), [Virginia](/source/Virginia), and was given responsibility for the blockading of the coast from the capes of the [Chesapeake](/source/Chesapeake_Bay) to the southern extremity of [Florida](/source/Florida) and [Key West](/source/Key_West). On May 17, 1861, the Coast Blockading Squadron was re-designated the Atlantic Blockading Squadron.[2] On September 16, 1861, Stringham tendered his resignation as commander of the squadron following his receipt of a letter from Acting Secretary of the Navy [Gustavus V. Fox](/source/Gustavus_V._Fox) that he felt indicated disapproval of his measures to enforce the blockade. Stringham’s resignation was accepted on September 18, 1861, and the same day Flag Officer [Louis M. Goldsborough](/source/Louis_Malesherbes_Goldsborough) was appointed as his replacement. The transfer of command took place on September 23, 1861, when Goldsborough arrived at Hampton Roads. In communicating to Goldsborough about his appointment Gideon Welles stated that “more vigorous and energetic action must be taken” to enforce the blockade.[3] *The frigate USS Roanoke.* During the summer of 1861 a four-person [board](/source/Blockade_Strategy_Board), chaired by Captain [Samuel F. Du Pont](/source/Samuel_Francis_Du_Pont), was formed to study the implementation of the blockade and make recommendations to improve its efficiency. In the board’s report of July 16, 1861, it was recommended that the Atlantic region be divided into northern and southern sectors. On September 18, 1861, the Navy Department reached the decision to implement this division with the dividing line being the border between [North Carolina](/source/North_Carolina) and [South Carolina](/source/South_Carolina). The implementation of this was delayed for a time and on October 12, 1861, the Navy Department informed Flag Officer Goldsborough that the division of his command would be effective as of the date Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont, who was appointed commander of the southern squadron, departed from Hampton Roads with the expedition to [capture](/source/Battle_of_Port_Royal) [Port Royal, South Carolina](/source/Port_Royal%2C_South_Carolina). Du Pont departed on October 29, 1861, upon which date the squadron was divided to form the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.[4] The only major operation conducted by the Atlantic Blockading Squadron was the expedition that led to the [capture](/source/Battle_of_Hatteras_Inlet_Batteries) of [Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina](/source/Hatteras_Inlet%2C_North_Carolina) August 26–29, 1861. This goal of the operation was to deny use of the inlet to Confederate shipping and this was accomplished with few casualties. The operation was also significant for giving the Union a badly needed victory following the [Battle of Bull Run](/source/First_Battle_of_Bull_Run), being the first amphibious landing and the first large scale combined Army-Navy operation of the war.[5] ## Ships of the Squadron On May 17, 1861, there were only fourteen ships assigned to the squadron, along with the Flying Flotilla (later the [Potomac Flotilla](/source/Potomac_Flotilla)) which was being formed by [Commander](/source/Commander) [James H. Ward](/source/James_H._Ward) who had departed for the Chesapeake from the New York Navy Yard on May 16, 1861. In effect Ward's flotilla acted independently under the direct orders of the Navy Department, though there was some transfer of vessels between the commands. With the acquisition and arming of civilian vessels the Atlantic Blockading Squadron grew to about three times its original allocated strength.[6] Ship Rate Type Notes Minnesota 1st Screw Frigate Squadron Flagship Roanoke 1st Screw Frigate Wabash 1st Screw Frigate Susquehanna 1st Sidewheel Frigate Brandywine 2nd Sailing Frigate Storeship, Hampton Roads Congress 2nd Sailing Frigate Cumberland 2nd Sailing Frigate St. Lawrence 2nd Sailing Frigate Sabine 2nd Sailing Frigate Savannah 2nd Sailing Frigate Pawnee 2nd Screw Sloop Iroquois 3rd Screw Sloop Seminole 3rd Screw Sloop Dale 4th Sailing Sloop Jamestown 3rd Sailing Sloop Vandalia 4th Sailing Sloop Quaker City 2nd Sidewheel Gunboat Cambridge 3rd Screw Gunboat Flag 3rd Screw Gunboat Harriet Lane 3rd Sidewheel Gunboat from United States Revenue Cutter Service Albatross 4th Screw Gunboat Dawn 4th Screw Gunboat Daylight 4th Screw Gunboat Louisiana 4th Screw Gunboat Monticello 4th Screw Gunboat Mount Vernon 4th Screw Gunboat Penguin 4th Screw Gunboat Pocahontas 4th Screw Gunboat R. B. Forbes 4th Screw Gunboat Stars and Stripes 4th Screw Gunboat Valley City 4th Screw Gunboat Ceres 4th Sidewheel Gunboat John L. Lockwood 4th Sidewheel Gunboat Thomas Freeborn 4th Sidewheel Gunboat Underwriter 4th Sidewheel Gunboat Union 4th Screw Auxiliary Young Rover 4th Screw Auxiliary Adelaide 4th Sidewheel Auxiliary Transport Cohasset 4th Screw Tug Reliance 4th Screw Tug Rescue 4th Screw Tug Resolute 4th Screw Tug Young America 4th Screw Tug ex-Confederate captured by USS Cumberland 24 Apr 1861 in Hampton Roads General Putnam 4th Sidewheel Tug Also known as USS William G. Putnam Yankee 4th Sidewheel Tug Ben Morgan 4th Sailing Ship Hospital Ship Charles Phelps 4th Sailing Ship Coal Ship Perry 4th Sailing Brig Gemsbok 4th Sailing Bark Release 4th Sailing Bark Storeship ## Commanders Squadron Commander From To Flag Officer Silas Horton Stringham 4 May 1861 23 Sep 1861 Flag Officer Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough 23 Sep 1861 29 Oct 1861 ## References - In these notes the abbreviation *ORN* is used for the work *Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.* **Notes** 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** *ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 5* (1897), pp. 619-20. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** *ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 5* (1897), pp. 619-20, 624, 635. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** *ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 6* (1897), pp. 210-1, 216-7, 231-4. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** *ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 6* (1897), pp. 313-4, 375. *ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 12* (1901), pp. 198-201, 208. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** *ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 6* (1897), pp. 119-145. Anderson (1989), pp. 48-52. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** *ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 5* (1897), pp. xv-xvi, 753-4, 635. *ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 6* (1897), pp. xvii-xviii, 5, 192, 282, 367. **Bibliography** - [*Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 5.*](https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ANU4547-0005) (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897). - [*Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 6.*](https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ANU4547-0006) (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897). - [*Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 12.*](https://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=ANU4547-0012) (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1901). - Anderson, Bern. *By Sea and by River: The Naval History of the Civil War.* (New York: Da Capo Press, 1989). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-306-80367-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-306-80367-4) - Silverstone, Paul H. *Warships of the Civil War Navies.* (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-87021-783-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-87021-783-6) v t e United States Navy squadrons 19th century Africa Squadron Brazil Squadron Chesapeake Bay Flotilla East India Squadron Home Squadron Mediterranean Squadron Mosquito Fleet New Orleans Squadron Pacific Squadron West Indies Squadron Civil War Atlantic Blockading Squadron East Gulf Blockading Squadron Mississippi River Squadron North Atlantic Blockading Squadron Potomac Flotilla South Atlantic Blockading Squadron West Gulf Blockading Squadron West India Squadron Post-Civil War Asiatic Squadron Bering Sea Squadron European Squadron Flying Squadron North Atlantic Squadron North Pacific Squadron Pacific Station South Atlantic Squadron South Pacific Squadron Special Service Squadron Squadron of Evolution Authority control databases VIAF --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Atlantic Blockading Squadron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Blockading_Squadron) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Blockading_Squadron?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.