Canonicus class monitor

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USS Canonicus with a schooner alongside, probably in the James River area, Virginia, in 1864-65. The tug USS Zeta (1864-65) is in the foreground.
Class overview
Builders: Harrison Loring
Harlan & Hollingsworth
Secor
Perine
Miles Greenwood
Snowden & Mason
Alex Swift & Niles Works
Preceded by: Passaic class
In commission: 7 April 1864 - 1 September 1898
Completed: 9
Lost: 1
USS Tecumseh, mined 5 August 1864
General characteristics
Displacement: 2,100 tons
Length: 223 - 225 ft overall
67.97 - 68.58 m
Beam: 43 ft - 43 ft 4 in
13.11 - 13.21 m
Draft: 12 ft 5 in - 13 ft mean
3.78 - 3.96 m
Propulsion: 2 Stimers or Martin boilers, 1-shaft Ericsson vibrating lever engine, 320 ihp (235 kW)
Speed: 8 knots
Complement: 100
Armament: 2 × 15 in (381 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns
Armor: Iron
Side: 5 - 3 in (12.7 - 7.6 cm)
Turret: 10 in (25.4 cm)
Deck: 1½ in (3.8 cm)


The Canonicus class monitors of the U.S. Navy were built during the American Civil War. They saw service in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War, although two of them were never commissioned.

The ships were basically improved Passaics, with wood and iron upper and iron lower hulls, modified in accordance with war experience. Catawba and Oneota were named Atahuallpa and Manco Capac by the Peruvians, who acquired them in 1868. The six other ships were renamed Scylla, Castor, Ajax, Neptune, Centaur and Vesuvius on 15 June 1869. They reverted to their original names on 10 August 1869, except Ajax who kept its name and Vesuvius who became Wyandotte. The four ships not commissioned during the war were built on the Ohio river, three at Cincinnati and Manayunk as far up as South Pittsburgh.

The hull lines were improved and designed speed is given as 13  knots but there was no hope of getting near this. The 5 × 1 in side armour was backed by two iron stringers 6½ in deep and 6 in thick for 70 ft from the bows, but 4 in elsewhere, and the armour lower edge was 3 × 1 in. The turret, of 21 ft internal diameter, had 10 × 1 in plates as did the pilot house above, and the funnel base was also armoured. The turret skirt was protected by a 5 in thick and 15 in high ring fixed to the deck, and as in other later monitors the 15 in guns were longer than in the Passaic class and fired with their muzzles outside the turret.

Tecumseh was sunk in Mobile Bay by a mine that exploded under her turret, and went down in 25 - 30 seconds. Canonicus, the last survivor, was finally decommissioned 31 years before being sold.

[edit] See also

Ships of the Canonicus class:

[edit] References

  • Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, p. 122. ISBN 0 85177 133 5. 
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Canonicus class monitor
List of monitors of the United States Navy