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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Belle (1864-1865)

USS Belle, a 56-ton steam tugboat, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1864, and purchased by the Navy in June of that year. She was employed in the North Carolina Sounds area as a tug, dispatch vessel and spar-torpedo boat. Belle took part in the capture of Plymouth, N.C., on 31 October 1864 and in an expedition up the Roanoke River during the following December. She was sold in July 1865 and was used for civilian purposes under the name Belle until 1891.

This page features our only views of USS Belle.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 58943

"Capture of Plymouth, N.C. Oct. 1864"


19th Century photograph of a painting by Acting Second Engineer Alexander C. Stuart, USN, 1864.
It depicts USS Commodore Hull (at left) leading the "Double-Ender" gunboats Tacony, Shamrock, Otsego and Wyalusing in engaging Confederate batteries at Plymouth, North Carolina, on 31 October 1864. Small vessels lashed to the gunboats' unengaged sides include USS Whitehead (beside Tacony), USS Bazely (beside Shamrock) and Belle (beside Otsego).

Collection of Surgeon H.P. Babcock, USN. Donated by his son, George R. Babcock, 1939.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 505 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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14 November 1999