USS Roanoke-- Part 23: Not a Successful Ironclad Monitor

Initial plans called for four turrets on the new monitor, but only three were placed.    Her masts, rigging and everything except smokestack was removed above the gundeck.  Little to nothing was done to reinforce the hull which proved to be a major problem.

Those three turrets, however, mounted some really heavy pieces of artillery:  two muzzle loading 15-inch Dahlgren, two 11-inch Dahlgrens and two eight inch 150-pdr. Parrott rifles.  No turret had two of the same two caliber guns, however.

Commissioned 29 June 1863.

Her initial commander as an ironclad was Captain Benjamin F. Sands (who was also at the battles of Fort Fisher while in command of the USS Fort Jackson),  He reported that on the trip from New York to Hampton Roads that the ship rolled heavily that it would be impossible to use its guns.

On 14 July, Sands test fired his guns for the first time and three of the guns dismounted because of the bad recoil.  It was decided that the Roanioke would serve only as harbor defense for Hampton Roads, where she spent the rest of the war.

She was decommissioned in 1875 and sold for scrap in 1883.

--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

USS Merrimack

Today, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table will be hearing a presentation from Dave Noe on the USS Merrimack, the ship that became the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia.

Here are some facts about the USS Merrimack:

From Wikipedia.

The USS Merrimack is also sometimes called the USS Merramac and was a steam frigate (powered by a screw propreller).  One of six ordered in 1854.  The others were the  Wabash, Roanoke,  Niagara,  Minnesota and Colorado. (The Minnesota, Colorado and Wabash were at Fort Fisher.)   The Roanoke became an ironclad herself featuring three turrets.  The Niagara spent most of the Civil War in Europe.

The Merrimack was named after a river that starts in New Hampshire and flows to Merrimac, Massachusetts, on the Atlantic Ocean which causes the confusion in spelling.

It was launched by the Boston Navy Yard 15 June 1855. Commander was Captain  Garrett J. Pendergrast.

--Old B-Runner

The USS Baltimore-- Part 1: The Third Ship to Carry That Name in U.S. Navy

The ship that Abraham Lincoln went to and back from City Point, Va., was the USS Baltimore.  It was not one of the better known ships of the war.

From Wikipedia.

There were two other USS Baltimore's before the one that served during the Civil War.

The first one was a 12-gun brigantine that served in the Continental Navy from 1777 to 1780.

The second USS Baltimore was a 20-gun ship built in 1798.  Two British frigates impressed 55 of its crew members in 1798.

The USS Baltimore that carried President Lincoln in 1864 was the third ship with the name.

--Old B-R'er

Simpson's Ships-- Part 1: USS Decatur and Congress

In the last post I  wrote about  Simpson's service aboard these ships up to the Mexican War.

The first two were involved with the Civil War.

The USS Decatur was a wooden sloop of war sailing ship launched in 1839 at the New York Navy Yard.  It was 117 feet long, had a 32 foot beam and crew of 150 officers and men.  It participated in the Mexican War.

Afterwards it was in the African Squadron, Home Squadron and the Pacific Squadron.

The ship was decommissioned at Mare Island in San Francisco Bay in 1859 and then remained in ordinary until March 1863, when she was fitted as a defensive floating battery and stationed off San Francisco to guard against Confederate raiders.  Plus, there was talk of a clandestine expedition of Confederates and their sympathizers from Canada.

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The second ship, the frigate USS Congress commissioned in 1842 and was 179 feet long with a 48-foot beam and mounted 53 cannons.  It took part in the Mexican War, but saw short service in the Civil War as it was sunk in 1862 by the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia.

--Old B-R'er

USS Columbias in the Civil War-- Part 1: USS Columbia 1836

I have been writing about the USS Columbia in my Not So Forgotten:  War of 1812 blog.  It was a frigate under construction that was burned at the Washington Navy Yard in 1814 to prevent capture by the British. Butt there were three ships by the name of USS Columbia involved in the Civil War.

From Wikipedia.

The first USS Columbia of the three in the Civil War was a fifty gun wooden sailing frigate launched in 1836.  It was the flagship of the U.S. East Indies Squadron and one of the first American naval ships to circumnavigate the globe.  It was scuttled and burned at Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia on 21 April 1861  to prevent capture by Confederate forces.

Following the end of the Civil War, it was raised and sold on 10 October 1867.

--Old B-R'er

CSS Missouri and Other Ships By That Name

From the June 18, 2018, News Tribune  "Perspective:  A history of the Missouri Navy" by Sam Bushman.

This was a list and short summary of all the ships in the U.S. (and Confederate) Navy by the name Missouri.

The first USS Missouri was a paddleboat frigate built in 1841 that soon caught fire and exploded.

The second Missouri was the Confederate CSS Missouri built on the Red River at Shreveport, Louisiana.  It never saw action and surrendered at the end of the war.  It was found to be badly built and was towed to Mound City, Illinois, and scrapped.

It was never officially commissioned into the U.S. Navy, but many historians count her as a Navy ship.

The third ship was the battleship USS Missouri (BB-11) commissioned in 1903

The 4th was the most famous of all, the battleship USS Missouri (BB-13) where Japan surrendered at the end of WW II and now a museum ship in Pearl Harbor.

The 5th is the submarine USS Missouri (SSN-780), a Virginia-class fast attack submarine.

I'll write about these other Missouris in my Cooter's History Thing blog.

--Old B-R'er

Reed Werden, USN-- Part 2: Served in NABS and SABS

Reed Werden was on the steam frigate USS Minnesota when the Civil War began and participated in the attacks of the forts at Hatteras Inlet and operations in the North Carolina Sounds in Stringham's fleet.  The USS Stars and Stripes, his former ship, was also there.

He commanded the steamers USS Yankee and USS Stars and Stripes in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron 1861-1862.  While in command of the Stars and Stripes, he led the First Division in the capture of Roanoke Island, North Carolina.

He was commissioned to the rank of commander 16 July 1862, and commanded the USS Conemaugh in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron 1862-1863.

--Old B-Runner

USS Santee-- Part 2: Action in the Gulf

The USS Santee was 190 feet long with a 45 foot beam, wooden-hulled, three masted sailing frigate crewed by 480 and mounting two 64-pdrs, ten 8-inch shell guns thirty-six 32-pdrs and two heavy 12 pdrs.  Quite a powerful armament.

It was sent to the Gulf of Mexico and on August 8, as mentioned in yesterday's post, captured the C.P. Knapp, 350 miles south of Pensacola and escorted its prize to that port.  Its second prize came 27 October 1861, when it captured the Delta off Galveston.

--Old B-R'er

USS Santee-- Part 1: Construction Started 1820, But Not Launched Until 1855

From Wikipedia.

Since I had never heard of the USS Santee, I had to inquire further into its history.

It was a three-masted, wooden hulled sailing frigate. and one of the last sailing frigates in active service.  In the Civil War it was crewed by 480 and fitted out with an array of heavy guns.

It did blockade duty and later served as a training ship for the USNA.

It was rated for 44 guns and construction on the Santee began at Portsmouth Navy Yard in 1820, but lack of funds lef to it not being launched until 16 February 1855, but was not commissioned until 9 June 1861, with Captain Henry Eagle in command.

--Old B-R'er