Service
A 413-ton side-wheel towboat, she was built at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1854 and converted to a ram in March-May 1862 for Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr.'s U.S. Ram Fleet. She played a distant role in the 6 June 1862 naval action off Memphis, Tennessee, and subsequently took part in operations in the Yazoo River and against Vicksburg, Mississippi.
On 25 March 1863, while commanded by Colonel Charles Rivers Ellet, Switzerland joined the ram Lancaster in an attempt to pass the Vicksburg fortress. Both ships were heavily hit by Confederate gunfire, with Lancaster being sunk. Despite her damage, Switzerland survived the trip and made a subsequent successful passage of the fortifications at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, on March 31. She took part in operations on the Red and Atchafalaya rivers in May and June 1863. Later in the war, Switzerland was part of the Mississippi Marine Brigade.
She was sold in October 1865 and was employed as the merchant steamer Switzerland until about 1870.
The USS Switzerland was never commissioned as a Navy vessel.
Read more about this topic: USS Switzerland (1854)
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“The masochist: “I send my tormentor hurrying hither and thither in the service of my suffering and desire.””
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“You had to face your ends when young
‘Twas wine or women, or some curse
But never made a poorer song
That you might have a heavier purse,
Nor gave loud service to a cause
That you might have a troop of friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)