Fortune Class Tug (1865)

Nine Fortune class tugs, also known as the Pinta class, were completed for the U.S. Navy. The Fortunes would form the core the U.S. Navy's tug fleet until the turn of the century.

Overview of nine vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Fortune	James Tetlow	—	23 Mar, 1865	19 May, 1871	Sold 22 May, 1922
Leyden	James Tetlow	—	1865	1865	Wrecked 21 Jan, 1903
Mayflower	James Tetlow	—	1865	Feb 1866	Sold 27 Dec, 1893
Nina	Reaney, Son & Archbold	—	27 May, 1865	30 Sep, 1865	Lost 6 Feb, 1910
Palos	James Tetlow	—	1864	11 Jun, 1870	Sold 25 Jan, 1893
Pinta	Reaney, Son & Archbold	—	29 Oct, 1864	Oct 1865	Stricken 2 Jan, 1908
Speedwell	James Tetlow	—	1865	13 Nov, 1865	Sold 1 Aug, 1894
Standish	James Tetlow	—	26 Oct, 1864	1865	Sold 5 Aug, 1921
Triana	William Perine	—	29 Apr, 1865	25 Oct, 1865	Grounded 15 Mar, 1891

Design & Construction

According to the New York Times of 12 September, 1864, the Fortune class were a response to the realities of blockade work off the Southern states, "Strong and efficient tugs have long been needed by the blockading fleets, and it was found that the old wooden tugs that ply along our rivers were poor substitutes for the service."^[1] Seven large and two smaller tugs were ordered on 20 December, 1863, and two more large tugs on 1 October, 1864. The two smaller vessels were the sisters Pilgrim and Maria. None were complete until 1865, by which time the need for tugs to assist the Union blockade had vanished.

Except for Fortune herself, the ships of this class were given names from Colonial American history. Nina, Pinta, Palos, and Triana were named for two of Christopher Columbus's ships, the port of Palos de la Frontera where Columbus sailed from in 1492, and Rodrigo de Triana, the first man of Columbus's fleet to spot land. Leyden, Mayflower, Speedwell, and Standish were named for the Dutch port where the Pilgrims set sail for what became Plymouth, Massachusetts, their ships Mayflower and Speedwell, and the Pilgrims' military advisor Miles Standish.

Performance

Armament

^[2]

As Completed

two 3-pounders

Footnotes

↑ "Naval Movements". The New York Times. Monday, 12 September, 1863. Vol. XIII. Issue 4,046, col. D, p. 8.
↑ Silverstone. Civil War. p. 81.

Bibliography

Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). The U.S. Navy Warship Series: Civil War Navies, 1855-1883. New York: Routledge.
Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). The U.S. Navy Warship Series: The New Navy 1883-1922. New York: Routledge.