Mosquito Fleet

Yesterday and today, I wrote about the CSS Black Warrior, a Confederate schooner which was part of the Mosquito Fleet assigned to protect the North Carolina sounds and Roanoke Island. http://sawtheelephant.blogspot.com

Looking up Mosquito Fleet in Wikipedia, there were seven times this name has been used in US history.

1. Described the US Navy's fleet of small gunboats before and during the War of 1812.

2. Name of the US squadron commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry against the Mexican fortresses of Tuxpan and Villahermosa during the Mexican War.

3. The Confederate fleet.

4. Fleet of small steam vessels in Puget Sound in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

5. Fleet of converted yachts used by the US Navy during WW I off the Atlantic Coast of France to patrol for German U-Boats and to provide support for convoys into Brest, France. Also called the "Suicide Fleet."

6. A term used for the fast wooden Torpedo (PT) Boats in WW II. Most famous was the PT-109, commanded by Ltjg John F. Kennedy, USN.

7. Fleet of sailing ships plied waters off South Carolina and Georgia in the mid-1800s, trawling for shrimp, primarily crewed by Gullah fishermen.

I knew about the Confederate fleet and might have known about the PT boats being called that, but not the others.

The Little Stingers or is It Biters? --Da Coot