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Naval History and Heritage Command

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Phlox

(SwStr: t. 317'; l. 145'; b. 24'; dph. 9'; dr. 6'; s. 12 k.; cpl. 32;)

A genus of American annual or perennial herbs with red, purple, white, or variegated flowers.

Phlox, a wooden side wheel steamer built at Boston, Mass. in 1864 as F. W. Lincoln, was purchased by the Navy from McKay & Aldus 2 August 1864; renamed Phlox the same day; and commissioned at Boston Navy Yard 14 September 1864, Act. Ens. Douglas F. O'Brien in command.

Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Phlox steamed south late in September and operated in the James River helping maintain communications among the Union ships, supporting General Grant's operations against Richmond. In January 1865 she steamed to Wilmington to support the joint Army-Navy attack on Ft. Fisher, N. C. which doomed Wilmington. After Ft. Fisher fell, Phlox returned to the James River where she served through the end of the war, decommissioning at the Washington Navy Yard 28 July 1865. Later that year Phlox was moved to Annapolis and subsequently served in a non-commissioned status as practice ship for midshipmen at the Naval Academy until 1873.

(WAGL-161: dp. 219; l. 99' 8"; b. 23'; dr. 8'; s. 8 k.; cpl. 8)

Phlox, built in 1926 by Defoe Boat Works, Bay City, Mich. as a lighthouse and buoy tender, commissioned in the U.S. Lighthouse Service 1 June and assumed station at New York City. Until the beginning of World War II she also serviced navigational aids out of Fernandina, Fla. and Marquette, Mich. She was acquired from the Lighthouse Service in 1939 when that service became part of the Coast Guard.

Executive Order 8929 of 1 November 1941 transferred the Coast Guard to the Navy. Phlox was assigned to Alpena, Mich., and she continued service as a buoy tender in the area of Thunder Bay, Lake Huron. She returned to the Treasury Department 1 January 1946 and provided navigational aid services out of Boston, Mass. and Bristol, R.I. until she decommissioned 26 August 1947. Sold in 1949, she was converted to commercial use, renamed Salvor, and operated out of Miami, Fla. under the management of Parde Island Seafoods, Inc., of Brownsville, Tex. In 1957 she came under the ownership of Vapor Honing Marine Services of Houston, Tex. and continued to operate out of Houston.

Published: Thu Aug 20 09:38:33 EDT 2015