USS Hatteras

The USS Hatteras was a sidewheel steamer purchased by the Navy 25 September 1861, outfitted as a warship and commissioned October 1861 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, CDR George F. Emmons commanding. She was attached to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron 26 January 1862.

On 11 January 1863, off Galveston Hatteras engaged a suspected blockade runner flying a Union Jack and claiming to be the ""Her Britannic Majaesty's Ship Petrel". When Hatteras drew closer, the "Petrel" struck her colors and sent up Confederate Stars and Bars and identified herself as the Alabama under the command of Raphael Semmes and immediately opened fire on the Hatteras at close range. Forty-five minutes later, Hatteras was at the bottom of the gulf. Her surviving crew were rescued by the Alabama and taken to Port Royal, Jamaica where they were later paroled and returned to the United States.