USS Passaic-- Part 8: Spanish-American War and 'Fightingest Ship' Name

The Passaic then spent  1893-1896 at Boston on loan to the Massachusetts Naval Militia.  The next two years were spent with the Georgia Naval Militia at Brunswick, Georgia.

Recalled for action during the Spanish-American War in 1898, she cruised southward  from May 6 to September 11.  At that time she was finally decommissioned at  the Pensacola Navy Base.

On October 10, 1899, the old warrior was sold to Frank Samuels of Philadephia who broke her up for scrap.

Writing in his journal on June 3, 1865, Admiral Dahlgren said of the Passaic, "a steady worker for two-and-one-half years, and the first monitor in commission after the Monitor.'

In a letter written to the Army and Navy Journal of April 24, 1864,  Commander Simpson said, "The Passaic was the worst hit of all the monitors."

Yes, the Passaic earned the  title of "The Fightingest Ship in Mr. Lincoln's Navy" and deserves to be remembered with pride by all who live in the river valley (Passaic, New Jersey) from which she received her name.

--Old B-Runner

USS Passaic-- Part 6: A Busy Ship in 1863

In a report to Admiral Dahlgren, who had replaced Du Pont,  Commander Simpson related that the Passaic went into action eleven times between  July 29 and September 8th.  During that time,  she fire two hundred and twenty-six shells against the enemy and took in return one hundred and thirty-five hits from Confederate guns.

Typical of her work was the September 8th engagement.  During the attack on Sullivan's Island, she was ordered to go well in front of the rest of the fleet to engage Battery Bee at close range.

The Confederates concentrated all their guns on the Passaic and she was hit fifty-one times.  She managed to fire off  forty-nine of her own shells.

Her last action in 1863, took place on November 16th, when Admiral Dahlgren used her as his flagship during an attack on Fort Moultrie.  In this engagement, the USS Lehigh ran aground and was rescued by the Passaic while both vessels were under heavy fire.

--Old B-Runner

USS Passaic-- Part 5: Took a Pounding at Charleston

In addition to the fortifications protecting Charleston Harbor, the channel had been heavily mined and filled with cables and obstructions to prevent passage of enemy ships.

In all, the Confederates had massed more than 300 guns.

It was into this inferno of fire that the Union fleet advanced to attack on April 7, 1863.  In the 45 minutes in which the action lasted, the Confederates fired 3,500 shots and shells and repelled the attack.

The ironclad USS Keokuk was sunk and all the others hit several times.  The object of the attack, Fort Sumter was only slightly damaged.

During the short battle, the Passaic had fired  thirteen shots and hit thirty-four times.  As a result, she was sent to New York for repairs and recommissioned  on July 19, 1863.  Lt. Commander Edward Simpson replaced Captain Drayton in command.

Arriving back in the blockade off Charleston, the Passaic took part in every engagement against the city and its defenses until the end of the war.

--Old B-Runner

The USS Passaic-- Part 3: Battling Fort McAllister

The Passaic was made the flagship of the small squadron and Captain Percival Drayton in charge of the operation against Fort McAllister.

Drayton was a member of an old and distinguished South Carolina family, but had chosen to remain in the U.S. Navy.  He had faced a brother, Confederate General Thomas F. Drayton earlier in the war at the Battle of Port Royal.

The Passaic led the small Union fleet into action and into position just 1,200 yards from the guns of the fort.  From 8:40 am to 3:30 pm, the Passaic fired 52 projectiles at the fort and was his 34 times.  In his report of the action,  Captain Downes of the monitor USS Nahant, said that all of the fort's guns were concentrated on the Passaic.

The attack was not successful in capturing the fort, but, the Passaic had proved beyond a doubt that monitors were capable of withstanding heavy fire which would have sunk any wooden ship.

--Old B-Runner

The USS Passaic-- Part 2: In Same Storm That Sank the USS Monitor

This is continuing with my RoadTrippin' Thru History with Edward Simpson who commanded the ship during the fighting at Charleston, S.C., in 1863.

Boiler problems along the way from New York caused a stop at the Washington Navy Yard for repairs.  While there, President Lincoln and his cabinet inspected the ship on December 6, 1862.  On December 29, she sailed from Hampton Roads in the company of the original USS Monitor.

They encountered rough weather off Cape Hatteras and the USS Monitor sank.  The Passaic survived the storm and reached Beaufort, S.C., safely on January 1, 1863.

Her first assignement was to patrol off  Wassau Sound, Georgia, where she captured the schooner Glide, a blockade runner loaded with cotton.

By now, the other Passaic-class monitors had been completed and joined the Passaic at Wassau Sound.  Admiral DuPont decided to test the ability of the monitors agains enemy fortifications and ordered an attack on Fort McAllister, Georgia.

--Old B-Runner

The USS Passaic-- Part 1: 'The Fightingest Ship in Mr. Lincoln's Navy'

From the Passaic County Historical Society "USS Passaic"  by Alfred P. Cappio.

The monitor USS Paissaic was commanded by Edward Simpson in the 1863 attack on Charleston and Fort Sumter.

The USS Passaic was named after the Passaic River in New Jersey.

"It is doubtful that any other ship in the Union Navy fought in more actions, fired more shells at enemy fortifications, or was hit more often by enemy fire than  the Passaic.  Truly this ship might well be called "The Fightingest Ship in Mr. Lincoln's Navy."

After the success of the USS Monitor, nine more monitors were ordered from John Ericsson at his Greenpoint (now Brooklyn) shipyard. The first to be completed was the USS Passaic, launched on August  30th and commissioned  at the New York Navy Yard on November 25, 1862.

Two days later, under the command of Captain Percival Drayton, she sailed to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron under  Admiral DuPont at Port Royal, South Carolina.

--Old B-Runner

RoadTrippin': Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 3: The Civil War and Afterwards

In 1862, he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and in 1863, was in command of the monitor USS Pasaic in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  He took part in the attacks on Fort Wagner in July and August 1863 and Fort Sumter in August and September 1863.

He was promoted to Commander in 1865 and Captain in 1870.  The next two years were spent in Europe on special duty.  During 1877 he was detaled at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as Captain, and in 1878, having been promoted to Commodore,  he was commanding officer of the New London Naval Station.

In 1881, Simpson took over as Commanding Officer of the League Island Navy Yard and in 1884 was appointed resident of the Gun Foundry Board.  He left the states again and traveled to Europe for several months for advisory purposes.

--Old B-Runner

Alban C. Stimers, USN-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

ALBAN CROCKER STIMERS

(June 5, 1827-June 3, 1876)

Was a Chief Engineer with the U.S. Navy.  He assisted with the design of the Navy's first ironclad, the USS Monitor, and later with the design of the  Passaic-class monitors.   His later career was marred by the scandal that enveloped the Casco-class monitors after they were found to be unseaworthy.

Stimers was born in New York in 1827.  He entered the U.S. Navy as a Third Assistant Engineer in January 1849 and became a Chief Engineer in July 1858.  He served in the steam frigate USS Roanoke during the early months of the Civil War and later in 1861 was assigned to work with John Ericsson on the construction of the ironclad USS Monitor.

--Old B-Runner

I Was Just Looking at the Photos of the Nantucket and the Uragan-Class Monitors and It Struck Me; They Were Sister Ships, Different Navies

Just to the right of these posts at this time is a picture of the American monitor USS Nantucket (which took that beating at the Battle of Fort Sumter in 1863) and the Russian Uragan-class monitor above it.

I started writing about the USS Nantucket on August 12 and continued until August 18 after seeing that our newest U.S. Navy ship named the Nantucket had just been launched.  It is the USS Nantucket (LCS-27), a Littoral Combat Ship.

That led to the Civil War USS Nantucket.

Then, the next article I came across was about the Russian monitor Novgorod.  To say he least, it was quite a peculiar-looking ship (the picture is also to the right of this at this time).  From there, I found there was a whole class of Russian monitors that even more closely resembled American monitors than did the Novgorod.

The Uragan-class of Russian monitors was built to the specs of the U.S. Passaic-class monitors and the USS Nantucket was a Passaic-class monitor.

So a Russian sailor from a Uragan monitor would definitely feel right at home on the USS Nantucket.

A Sister From Another Mother As It Were.  --Old B-Runner

Russian Monitor Uragan-- Part 2

The lead ship of her class and based on the designs of the Union's Passaic-Class monitors.

She entered Russian service in 1865 and cost nearly double what was proposed.  She was assigned to the Baltic Fleet.  All of her sister ships except the Latnik, made a port visit to Stockholm, Sweden July-August 1865.

Sometime after she was completed, an armored ring was fitted around the base of the turret to prevent splinters from jamming it.  Later an armored bulwark  was fitted to the top of the turret to provide protection for crewmen up there.

Three sponsons were added, probably during the 1870s,  to the upper portion of each turret to mount a light gun, probably a 1,75-inch Engstrem gun.

Little is known about the ship's naval career except that she was laid up each winter when the Gulf of Finland froze.  She was reclassified as a coast defense  ironclad on February 13, 1892.  It was stricken in August 1900 and in 1903, was converted into a coal barge with the removal of its turret, her side armor and wooden backing.

It served in that capacity until it was abandoned by the Soviets when they were forced to withdraw from Finland according to the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and was later scrapped by the Fins.

--Old B-Runner

The Russian Uragan Monitor Class-- Part 2

Russian Naval Architect N. Artseulov was sent to the U.S. to join Russian Naval Attachee Captain  Stepan Stepanovich Lessovsky to help assess first-hand the advantages and disadvantages of American monitors.

On 11 March 1863, the Russian Admiralty approved a program to build ten monitors  to the American monitor Passaic-class plans.  The decision to use the American plans was based on lack of time, money and inexperience in building ironclads.

A larger monitor with two turrets, the Smerch, was also approved and launched in 1864.

In their first eight years of operation, three different kinds of artillery pieces were used.  An order was placed with the Krupp ordnance factories in Germany for nine inch smoothbores which was used in the monitors at first.  In 1864, artillery specialist  Filemon  N. Pestich returned from America with technology  for the production of  15-inch Dahlgren guns of the type used on the American Passaic monitors and a factory was established to make them.

The first 15-inch Dahlgrens became available for the Uragan monitors in 1869.  Unlike the American ships, the Uragan ones did not use a mixed armament of 15-inch and a smaller one.  New 9-inch breech-loading rifled guns were placed on the ships beginning in 1973.

As the monitors were hulked in 1900, these guns were removed and later served in Peter the Great's Naval Fortress.

--Old B-Runner

The Russian Monitor Uragan-Class-- Part 1

It is interesting that Russia is the only other major naval power to have monitors along the design of the Union Navy.

From Wikipedia.

The Uragan-class was a class on monitors built for the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy.  The ships were built to the plans of the American Passaic-Class of monitors.  A total of ten different ships were constructed  at five different shipyards in Saint Petersburg, all entering Russian service in 1865.  They were among the first Russian ironclads.

These ships were built in response to fears of a standoff with Britain and a repeat of the Crimean War.  Only this time with Britain's intentions on the Russian capital at Saint Petersburg.

Americans mistook Russian defensive moves as an indicator of support for the Union cause in the Civil War.

A Russian monitor program was started as soon as news of the  Battle of Hampton Roads reached Europe.

The Novgorod, which I wrote about last week was another effort of the Russian Navy to build a monitor.

--Old B-Russian

USS Nantucket Statistics-- Part 1

HISTORY

BUILDER:  Atlantic Iron Works,  Boston, Massachusetts

LAUNCHED:  6 December 1862

COMMISSIONED:  26 February 1863

 RENAMED:  USS Medusa  15 June 1869 //  Renamed USS Nantucket 10 August 1869

FATE:   Sold, 14 November 1900

*****************************************

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

CLASS AND TYPE:   Passaic-class Monitor

DISPLACEMENT:  1.875 tons

LENGTH:    200 feet overall

BEAM:  46 feet

Old B-Runner

USS Nantucket (1862) Ironclad Monitor-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

The first ship to bear the name Nantucket in the U.S. Navy was a Passaic-class coastal monitor launched 6 December 1862 by Atlantic Iron Works, Boston, Massachusetts.  It was commissioned  26 February 1863, Commander Donald McNeil Fairfax in command.

Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron,  the Nantucket participated  in the attack on the Confederate forts in Charleston Harbor 7 April 1863.  Struck 51 times during the valiant but unsuccessful assault, the ship was repaired at Port Royal and returned to  Charleston to support the Union Army on Morris Island.

She engaged Fort Wagner on 16, 17, 18 and 24 July.  The famed attack of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry regiment took place on July 18.  That would be the black regiment made famous in the movie "Glory."

--Old B-Runner

USS Marblehead-- Part 3: Action in the Stono River and Bombardment of Charleston Defenses

The Marblehead survived its battle with the horse cavalry artillery and was then transferred to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  Primarily she patrolled the coast looking for blockade runners, but in early February 1863, she reconnoitered the Wilmington River  with the monitor USS Passaic trying to locate the ironclad CSS Atlanta (ex-blockade-runner Fingal).

Later in the month, on the 23rd, she took possession of  the prize Glide and her cargo of cotton which had been captured by  the Coast Guard schooners Caswell and Arago at the entrance to Tybee Creek in Georgia.  The Glide had been in route to Nassau.

During her coastal patrols, the Marblehead on occasion engaged in operations on the Stono River, South Carolina,  in support of Union forces on James Island by Charleston.  On 16 July 1863, during an assault by Confederate forces on that position, she came under fire by Confederate artillery at Grimball's Landing.

Forced further downriver, she still provided fire support and prevented Confederate reinforcements from reaching  the main body of their attack force.

Afterwards, the Marblehead joined with the rest of the Union fleet outside of Charleston Harbor in bombarding the forts there before  heading north for repairs.

--Old B-Runner

Edward Simpson's Career in the Civil War and Afterwards

Now at the USNA, Simpson was an instructor of naval gunnery and infantry tactics.  Prior to the Civil War, he was promoted to master, then to lieutenant.  In 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant-commander and in 1863, commanded the ironclad monitor USS Passaic in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

As commander, he took part in the attacks on Fort Wagner in July and August 1863 and Fort Sumter in August and September 1863.

At some point, he was removed as the Passaic's commander and became the USS Isonomia's first commander.  Now, that ship was in no way the equal of the Passaic, so at some point I'd have to believe that something bad happened to Simpson's career.

Even so, he was promoted to commander in 1865 and captain in 1870.  The next two years were spent in Europe on special duty.  In 1877, he was detailed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard as captain, and in 1878, having been promoted to commodore he was commanding officer at the New London Naval Station.

--Old B-Runner

Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 2: Civil War Service

After graduation from the Academy on July 9, 1846, he reported to the USS Vixen and participated in numerous bombardments during the Mexican War.  During the next fifteen years,  he served afloat in the Brazil Squadron and the China Squadron and was involved with the U.S. Coast Survey.

Afterwards he served ashore for two tours of duty at the U.S. Naval Academy, first as gunnery instructor and then in 1860 as the head of the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery.

CIVIL WAR SERVICE

In May 1861, he moved with the USNA to Newport, Rhode Island,  where it stayed for the remainder of the war.  In 1862, he became the Commandant of Midshipmen.

In June 1863, he took command of the monitor USS Passaic and participated in the bombardments of Charleston, S.C., from July to November 1863.  Then from July to December 1864, he commanded the USS Isonomia in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron.  (I am of the thought that something must have happened because going from command of a monitor to a ship such as the Isonomia would seem to be a demotion.  Lt. L.D.D.Voorhees was in command of the Isonomia when it captured the blockade runner George Douthwaite on May 8, 1865, which is how I ended up doing research on the USS Isonomia and Edward Simpson.)

From February to June 1865 he was Fleet Captain of the West Coast Blockading Squadron and of the forces attacking Mobile, Alabama.

--Old B-R'er

Some More On the "Devil"-- Part 1: "That "Yankee Devil"

From Civil War Talk  "Francis Lee Wanted Iron for  the Torpedi Ram-- Question."

From "Rebel Rhymes and Rhapsodies" by Frank Moore  "The Yankee Devil".

"The  'Nondescript,' or 'Yankee Devil,' for clearing the harbor, was washed ashore on yesterday at Morris Island, and now in our possession.  It is described as a scow-like vessel, painted red, with a long protruding beak, and jutting iron prongs and claws, intended  for the removal of torpedoes.

"It was attached to the Passaic, and managed by her during the engagement."

From the Charleston Courier.

"The enemy are waiting for a new machine, ('Devil') to remove the torpedoes in the harbor, and to have everything in readiness before the attack."   Charleston Courier.

Old-B-Runner

The USS Weehawken's "Devil"-- Part 3: Also Could Mount Spar Torpedoes

Four chains would secure the raft  to the monitor.  There are references stating that when attached, the "Devil" played the devil with ill effects to the ship's steering.  However, the Weehawken's commander, in an  official report made a few weeks after the April 7 battle with Fort Sumter stated that the raft imposed no  noticeable effects on his ship's steering.

Reference books most often say the raft was designed to snag Confederate torpedoes.  The grappling hooks and chains would certainly  be effective with the torpedoes, but, the author believes that if this took place during a battle that it would not be likely anyone would want to be messing around with several hundred pounds of powder while under fire.  Good point.

Probably better, there was a frame on the front of the raft that could mount two spar torpedoes which might be even more effective at clearing the torpedoes by exploding them.

However, Rodgers did not have the spar torpedoes when he went into battle April 7.  The thought of navigating in the narrow channel with explosives on the front of his ship was too big of a challenge.  But, he was the only commander willing to attach a "Devil" to the front of his ship.  This is why the Weehawken was at the front of the naval column going in to attack as opposed to the USS Passaic, commanded by the more senior Captain Percival Drayton.

--Old B-Runner

USS Weehawken-- Part 5: Reducing Forts Wagner and Sumter

The USS Weehawken resumed operations against the Charleston fortifications.  On July 10-11, 1863, Union ironclads Nahant, Montauk, Catskill and Weehawken shelled Fort Wagner on Morris Island to cover a Union Army amphibious landing under Brigadier General Quincy A. Gillmore.  Despite additional bombardments on July 18 and 24, they failed to silence the Confederate fort.

Gillmore's troops were pinned down on the beach.  Fort Wagner was finally reduced in a naval bombardment of it, Fort Gregg, Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter on 17 August.

Next, the monitors Nahant, Weehawken, Montaul, Passaic and Patapsco took aim at Fort Sumter, pounding it to rubble on two separate bombardments on  23 August and 1-2 September.

--Old B-Runner