USS Sorrel (1864) was a small 68-ton steamer purchased by the Union Navy

Union Navy

The Union Navy is the label applied to the United States Navy during the American Civil War, to contrast it from its direct opponent, the Confederate States Navy...

 towards the end of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

The Navy placed Sorrel in service as a Philadelphia tugboat

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

, a role she maintained through the end of the Civil War and for a short period afterwards.

Purchased at Philadelphia in 1864

Sorrel -- a wooden-hulled steam tug -- was purchased by the Navy at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, under the name W. S. Hancock on 1 August 1864 from Hillman and Streaker.

Service with the Navy

The small steamer apparently served as a general purpose tug at the Philadelphia Navy Yard throughout her naval career.

Deactivation and sale

She was laid up in Philadelphia in the late 1870s and remained inactive until she was sold at there to A. Purvis & Son on 27 September 1883.

External links

• USS Sorrel