page_title: USS Estrella (1862)
section_title: United States Navy service
hierarchical_section_title: USS Estrella (1862) / United States Navy service
caption_attribution_description: English: "Destruction of the 'Queen of the West' by Union Gun-Boats", A line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1863, depicting CSS Queen of the West being destroyed in Grand Lake, Louisiana, during an attack by USS Estrella (extreme left), Calhoun (extreme right) and Arizona (second from right).
context_page_description: Estrella was a paddle steamship built by Samuda Brothers in London in 1853 for the Magdalena Steam Navigation Company's commercial services in present-day Colombia. In 1862 she was sold to United States owners and briefly used as a Union Army transport before being acquired by the Union Navy. She served as the armed steamship USS Estrella during the remainder of the American Civil War, carrying three heavy guns as well as two howitzers for shore bombardment.
  Returning to commercial service in 1867, Estrella operated under the American flag and, later, as the British-flag Twinkling Star on services within the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico area. She was seriously damaged in 1870 in Jamaica and later sank in port.
context_section_description: Estrella was transferred from the Army to the Navy late in 1862, and commissioned before the end of October, Lieutenant Commander A. P. Cooke in command. She was armed with three heavy guns – two 32-pounders and one 30-pounder with rifled barrel – and with two 24-pounder howitzers, proving versatile and useful in both stopping blockade runners at sea and at bombarding shore positions.
  Assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Estrella served throughout the war off Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana, along the Texas coast, and up the rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. During the first 13 days of November 1862 she took part in a series of engagements with CSS J. A. Cotton and Confederate shore batteries along the Atchafalaya River and Bayou Teche. With her captain serving as commander of the flotilla maintained in Berwick Bay, Estrella led the attack on CSS Queen of the West 14 April 1863. The Confederate ship was set afire by Union gunfire and, after 90 of her crew had been rescued, exploded.
  Four days later, Cooke led his flotilla up the Atchafalaya once more, to attack the batteries at Butte-a-la-Rose, Louisiana. The batteries were captured intact, with their garrison of 60 men and large supplies of ammunition and commissary stores. A Union Army garrison was at once sent up to hold the town, another key point won by the Union Navy in its continuing campaign to take complete control of coastal areas. From 3 to 6 May 1863, Estrella sailed up the Red River to join in the attack on Fort De Russy, and during June and July participated in the attacks on Port Hudson, Louisiana which led to its fall on 9 July. Other events in her active service included the capture of schooner Julia A. Hodges in Matagorda Bay, Texas, on 6 April 1864 and a leading role in the attacks on Fort Powell in Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864. These attacks were made in coordination with the battle of Mobile Bay.
  After being repaired at New Orleans in the first 4 months of 1865, Estrella served as flagship of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, continuing to cruise in the Gulf of Mexico and its tributary waters until 30 June 1867, when she sailed for New York Navy Yard. Estrella was decommissioned there on 16 July 1867, and sold 9 October 1867.
caption: Destruction of the CSS Queen of the West by USS Estrella (left), USS Arizona (center) and USS Calhoun (right) on April 11, 1863
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