Selma (side-wheel gunboat)
A city in Alabama 40 miles west of Montgomery. The side-wheel gunboat, Selma, retained her Confederate Navy name during her service in the United States Navy.
On the evening of his historic victory in Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864, Rear Admiral Farragut commissioned the prize gunboat CSS Selma (q.v., II, 565) and placed her under the command of Lt. Arthur R. Yates.
Five days later, Selma joined in the Union Navy's bombardment of Fort Morgan. On the 16th, she participated in a reconnaissance expedition up the Dog River.
In January 1865, Selma was transferred to New Orleans where she served until decommissioned on 16 July 1865. Sold at auction the same day to G. A. Hall, Selma was redocumented for merchant service on 17 August 1865 and foundered on 24 June 1868 south of Galveston, Tex., off the mouth of the Brazos River.
