Naval History and Heritage Command

Speedwell, a screw harbor tug, was built by James Tetlow, Boston, Mass., and delivered to the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard on 13 November 1865. She served there through the remainder of the 1860's and into the 1870's. She was still at the Portsmouth yard in 1876, but sometime between then and 1880, she was reassigned to Washington, D.C., where she served until 1884. She then moved to the Norfolk Navy Yard, where she served until the end of her Navy career in 1890. Speedwell was struck from the Navy list on 19 December 1890 and her hulk was sold in March of 1891.