USS Monadnock (1864)
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 A lithograph of the USS Monadnock |
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Boston Navy Yard |
| Laid down: | 1862 |
| Launched: | 23 March 1863 |
| Commissioned: | 4 October 1864 |
| Decommissioned: | 30 June 1866 |
| Fate: | broken up, 1874 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 3,295 tons |
| Length: | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Beam: | 53 ft 8 in (16.4 m) |
| Draft: | 12 ft 3 in (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 Martin boilers, 2 shafts, Ericsson vibrating lever engine, 1,400 ihp (1,029 kW) |
| Speed: | 9 knots |
| Complement: | 130 officers and men |
| Armament: | 4 × 15 in (381 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns (2 × 2) |
| Armor: | Iron Side: 4½ in (11.4 cm) Turrets: 11 in (27.9 cm) Pilothouse: 8 in (20.3 cm) Deck: 1½ in (3.8 cm) |
The first USS Monadnock, a twin‑screw, wooden‑hull, double-turreted, ironclad monitor was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA, in 1862; launched 23 March 1863; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard 4 October 1864, Captain John M. Berrien in command. It was named after Mount Monadnock, a mountain in southern New Hampshire.
The only monitor of the Monadnock-class to see action during the Civil War, the Monadnock was designed by Chied of Naval Engineering John Lenthal. Lenthall actually designed four monitors at that time. The Monadnock and the Agamenticus were the first and are considered the two Monadnock-class vessels. Lenthall altered the designs of the next two, the Miantonomoh and the Tonawanda and dubbed them the Miantonomoh-class. Because of the similarities between the two classes they are sometimes referred to collectively as the Miantonomoh-class.
The Monadnock used powerful steam engines designed by Chief of Steam Engineering, Benjamin F. Isherwood. Her hull design was also much more streamlined than monitors designed by John Ericsson. Unfortunately, her internal frames were only 4.5 in oak and like Lenthall's Roanoke conversion, the weight of her turrets weakened the structural integrity of the hull and she was prone to rotting and cracking.
In service, the Monadnock steamed to Norfolk, VA, and there Commander Enoch Greenleafe Parrott took command 20 November 1864. On 13 December she departed Norfolk for the assault against Fort Fisher. She joined Rear Admiral David D. Porter’s North Atlantic Blockading Squadron on the 15th, and 4 days later departed Beaufort, NC, to join the Union fleet massed to attack Confederate defenses on the Cape Fear River. On the morning of Christmas Eve, she closed the entrance of the river, guarded by Fort Fisher. At less than 1,200 yards from shore she began bombarding the fortification and continued throughout the day. The following morning she resumed shelling as 2,000 Army troops under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler landed north of the fort. However, after coming close to the fort, the troops were pulled back and reembarked in the landing boats.
The attack was renewed 13 January 1865. Through the 15th, Monadnock again shelled the fort’s defenses, disabling many of the guns. Firing continued until the last gun on the sea face was silenced, well after the troops, under Major General Alfred Terry, and sailors and Marines had launched their final and successful assault. During the action, perhaps the largest amphibious operation in American history, prior to World War II, Monadnock was struck five times.
Having aided in the closing of the port of Wilmington, NC, the South’s last important link in the overseas supply lifeline, Monadnock turned toward Charleston, SC. On 19 February, while still in the Charleston area; she sent a volunteer crew to take possession of blockade runner Deer.
After a stay at Port Royal, SC, she steamed to Hampton Roads 15 March. On 2 April, she steamed up the James River to support the final assault on Richmond, VA and then assisted in clearing the river of torpedoes to allow safe passage to the fallen Confederate capitol. Returning to Hampton Roads 7 April, she sailed out into the Atlantic on the 17th, en route to Havana, where she kept watch over CSS Stonewall. Back at Norfolk by 12 June, she entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard on the 20th to fit out for her cruise to the west coast.
Monadnock departed Philadelphia, PA 5 October; with Vanderbilt, Tuscorora, and Powhatan. After stops at numerous South American ports, she transited the Straits of Magellan and continued on to San Francisco, CA, anchoring off that city 21 June 1866. On 26 June she proceeded to Vallejo, CA and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard where she decommissioned 30 June.
In 1874 her wooden hull was broken up as part of a program to "rebuild" Civil War era monitors into modern ones. In fact, she was replaced by a completely new ship, which was also named Monadnock.
[edit] See also
- See USS Monadnock for other ships of this name.
[edit] References
- This article contains text from the US Naval Historical Center.
- This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
- Additional technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, p. 121. ISBN 0 85177 133 5.
[edit] External links
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