Switzerland (steam ram)

US Ram Switzerland was a paddle steamer ram operated by the US Army during the American Civil War as part of the U.S. Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade.

US Ram Switzerland was operated by the US Army on the Mississippi river
History
United States
Launched	1854
Out of service	1865
General characteristics
Displacement	413 tons
Propulsion	Side-wheel steamer

US Ram Switzerland and USS Lancaster.

Service

A 413-ton side-wheel towboat, she was built at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1854 and converted to a ram in March–May 1862 for Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr.'s U.S. Ram Fleet. She played a distant role in the June 1862 naval action off Memphis, Tennessee, and subsequently took part in operations in the Yazoo River and in the Vicksburg Campaign.

On 25 March 1863, while commanded by Colonel Charles Rivers Ellet, Switzerland joined the ram Lancaster in an attempt to pass the Vicksburg fortress. Both ships were heavily hit by Confederate gunfire, with Lancaster being sunk. Despite her damage, Switzerland survived the trip and made a subsequent successful passage of the fortifications at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, on 31 March. She took part in operations on the Red and Atchafalaya rivers in May and June 1863. Later in the war, Switzerland was part of the Mississippi Marine Brigade.

She was sold in October 1865 and was employed as a merchant steamer under the same name until about 1870.

Switzerland was never commissioned as a Navy vessel.

References

• Crandall, Warren Daniel (1907). History of the Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade in the War for the Union on the Mississippi and its tributaries: the story of the Ellets and their men. Press of the Buschart Brothers.
• Hearn, Chester G. (2000). Ellet's Brigade: The Strangest Outfit of All. LSU Press. ISBN 0-8071-2559-8.

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.