Wikipedia article of the day for February 17, 2026

The Wikipedia article of the day for February 17, 2026 is USS Romeo.
USS Romeo was a sternwheel steamer that saw service as a tinclad warship during the American Civil War. Completed in August 1862 as a civilian merchant vessel, she was instead purchased by the Union Navy in October. Commissioned in December, she cleared naval mines from the Yazoo River later that month before participating in operations against Confederate-held Fort Hindman in January 1863. Romeo was involved in some of the operations of the Vicksburg campaign in 1863, particularly the Yazoo Pass expedition. Later in 1863, Romeo was involved in part of the Little Rock campaign. During February 1864, she was part of an expedition up the Yazoo River to Yazoo City, Mississippi. She spent most of the rest of the war patrolling the Mississippi River, encountering Confederate land forces on several occasions. Romeo was declared surplus at the end of the war and was sold to civilian owners. Eventually converted into a sidewheel steamer, Romeo ceased to appear in the shipping registers in 1870.