CSS Sea Bird

CSS Sea Bird was a sidewheel steamer in the Confederate States Navy.

Destruction of Commodore Lynch's fleet
History
Confederate States
Name	CSS Sea Bird
Owner	E. H. Delk
Builder	Benjamin Terry
Launched	1854 at Keyport, New Jersey
Commissioned	1861
Homeport	Norfolk, Virginia
Fate	Rammed and sunk by USS Commodore Perry February 10, 1862
General characteristics
Displacement	202 tons
Length	133 ft (41 m)
Beam	21 ft (6.4 m)
Depth of hold	7 ft (2.1 m)
Decks	1 deck
Installed power	1 low pressure 30" x 84" vertical-beam engine built by Birkbeck, Furnam & Co., NY
Propulsion	Side wheels.
Complement	42 officers and men
Armament	1 32-pounder smoothbore cannon, 1 30-pounder rifled cannon
Notes	No mast, round tuck, no figurehead (Information from enrollment #78; December 26, 1860).

The Command flag of Captain Lynch, flown from the CSS Sea Bird

Sea Bird was built at Keyport, New Jersey in 1854, was purchased by North Carolina at Norfolk, Virginia in 1861 and fitted for service with the Confederate States Navy. She was assigned to duty along the Virginia and North Carolina coasts with Lieutenant Patrick McCarrick, CSN, in command. Sea Bird served as the flagship of Confederate Flag Officer William F. Lynch's "Mosquito Fleet" during the hard-fought battles in defense of Roanoke Island on February 7–8, 1862, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on February 10 when she was rammed and sunk by USS Commodore Perry. Her casualties were two killed, four wounded, and the rest captured.

References

W. Craig Gaines, Encyclopedia of Civil War shipwrecks. Louisiana State University Press, 2008.

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

• CSS Sea Bird Muster Roll.