USS Cricket, a 178-ton stern-wheel "Tinclad" river gunboat, was built in 1860 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for merchant use. Purchased by the Navy in November 1862, she was commissioned in January 1863. During 1863-65, Cricket was active on patrol, convoy and offensive operations on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, capturing two Confederate Army transports in August 1863 while operating on the Little Red River. She was flagship for Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter during expeditions up the Black and Ouachita Rivers in February-March 1864 and up the Red River in March-May, suffering damage and heavy casualties while repelling an attempt to capture her on 26 April 1864. Following repairs, she served on the White River, Arkansas, area until the end of the Civil War. USS Cricket was decommissioned in June 1865 and sold the following August. She was employed as the civilian Cricket No. 2 until broken up in 1867.

This page features our only views of USS Cricket.

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Photo #: NH 55524 USS Cricket (1863-1865, "Tinclad" # 6) Tied up at a Western Rivers city, during the last years of the Civil War, with a barge astern and a boat alongside. Note the decorative star suspended between her smokestacks. U.S. Naval Historiy and Heritage Command Photograph Online Image: 134KB; 740 x 620 pixels
Photo #: NH 63377 USS Cricket (1863-1865, "Tinclad" # 6) Tied up at a Western Rivers city, during the last years of the Civil War, with a barge astern and a river steamboat in the distance. Note the identification number ("6") painted on her pilothouse. U.S. Naval Historiy and Heritage Command Photograph Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 585 pixels
Photo #: NH 42369 "Attack on the 'Cricket' by 2,500 Confederates, Under General Green" Engraving from Porter's "History of the Civil War", page 522, depicting USS Cricket (1863-1865) engaged in a running battle with Confederate troops and artillery along the Red River on 26 April 1864. Cricket was flagship of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter during this action. U.S. Naval Historiy and Heritage Command Photograph Online Image: 203KB; 740 x 460 pixels