From 290 Foundation USS Galena.
The USS Oneida was lashed to the USS Galena when Farragut's fleet passed by Fort Morgan, guarding Mobile Bay.
In May 1864, the Galen joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and joined Admiral Farragut's long-delayed attempt to capture Mobile, Alabama. Farragut gathered a fleet of eighteen ships, including four of the latest ironclads to run the gauntlet of defending fire.
Among the Monitors were the Tecumseh and Manhattan with their massive 15-inch Dahlgren cannons and the USS Winnebago and Chickasaw, each carrying four 11-inch Dahlgrens.
The USS Galena was now captained by Lt. Cmdr. Clark H. Wells. The Galena had been one of the Union Navy's three original ironclads, but had not worked out and had had its iron removed, so now was a wooden ship.
On August 5, 1864, Farragut's ironclads led the advance toward Fort Morgan. Beyond the fort, Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan's small defending fleet, including the ironclad CSS Tennessee and gunboats Gaines, Morgan and Selma.
Trailing closely behind the monitors, just to port, were Farragut's seven largest wooden warships, each with a smaller gunboat lashed to its port side. The Galena was lashed to the port side of the USS Oneida, away from Fort Morgan.
--Old B-Runner
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