USS Zeta (1844)

History
United States
Ordered	as J. G. Loane
Laid down	date unknown
Launched	1844
Acquired	3 June 1864
Commissioned	8 June 1864
Decommissioned	circa May 1865
Stricken	1865 (est.)
Fate	sold, 24 June 1865
General characteristics
Displacement	60 tons
Length	58 ft (18 m)
Beam	13 ft (4.0 m)
Depth of hold	5 ft (1.5 m)
Propulsion	steam engine; screw-propelled;
Speed	8 knots
Complement	not known
Armament	eight Enfield muskets; one spar torpedo;

USS Zeta (1844) was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a torpedo boat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

Purchased at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[]

J. G. Loane—a small wooden steamer built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1844—was purchased by the Navy on 3 June 1864 at Philadelphia from William S. Mason.

Renamed Tug No. 6, and often as Picket Boat No. 6[]

Renamed Tug No. 6 and commissioned on 8 June 1864, Acting Ensign Frederick W. Mintzer in command, this small craft was sometimes referred to as Picket Boat No. 6 in dispatches.

Assigned as a torpedo boat in the James River[]

Renamed Zeta in the following November, she served as a torpedo tug in the James River until April 1865. Transferred in that month to the Potomac River flotilla of Comdr. Foxhall A. Parker, Zeta guarded the Bush River (Maryland) Bridge until sent to the Washington Navy Yard in May.

Post-war decommissioning and sale[]

Her services no longer required, Zeta was sold to C. Vanderwerken on 24 June 1865.

References[]

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