USS Neosho (1863-1873) - Watercolor by Dr. Oscar Parkes |
|
Career | |
---|---|
Name: | USS Neosho |
Namesake: | Neosho River |
Builder: | Union Iron Works, Carondelet, Missouri |
Laid down: | mid-1862 |
Launched: | 18 February 1863 |
Commissioned: | 13 May 1863 at Cairo, Illinois |
Decommissioned: | 23 July 1865 at Mound City, Illinois |
Renamed: | Vixen, 15 June 1869 Osceola, 2 August 1869 |
Struck: | 1873 (est.) |
Fate: | Sold, 17 August 1873 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Neosho-class river monitor |
Tons burthen: | 523 |
Length: | 180 ft (54.9 m) |
Beam: | 45 ft (13.7 m) |
Draft: | 4 ft 6 in (1.4 m) |
Depth of hold: | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
Installed power: | 400 ihp (300 kW) |
Propulsion: | 2 × horizontal steam engines, 4 × boilers stern wheel-propelled |
Speed: | 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph) |
Complement: | 100 |
Armament: | 2 × 11-inch (280 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns |
Armor: | Gun turret: 6 in (150 mm) Hull: 2.5 in (64 mm) Deck: 1.25 in (32 mm) |
USS Neosho was a ironclad river monitor laid down for the Union Navy in the summer of 1862 during the American Civil War. She was named after the Neosho River that flowed through Kansas and Oklahoma. After completion in mid-1863 the ship spent time patrolling the Mississippi River against Confederate raids and ambushes as part of Rear Admiral David Porter's Mississippi Squadron. She participated in the Red River Campaign in March–May 1864. Neosho resumed her patrols on the Mississippi after the end of the Red River Campaign. She supported the Union Army's operations on the Cumberland River and provided fire support during the Battle of Nashville in December 1864. Neosho was decommissioned after the war and remained in reserve until sold in 1873.
Contents |
Neosho and her sister Osage were the first of James Eads' river warships to employ the "turtleback" design which became his hallmark and were the only monitors to be propelled by stern wheels. Their shallow draft made them extremely useful in the riverine warfare in which the Union Navy was engaged on the Mississippi and its tributaries.
The steam-powered turret of the Neosho-class ships was at the bow and they had a deckhouse between the funnel and the sternwheel, although another was later added between the turret and the funnel. The ships were 180 feet (54.9 m) long overall and had a beam of 45 feet (13.7 m). When launched they proved to have a draft 1 foot (0.3 m) deeper than planned and they measured 523 tons burthen. The ships had four steam boilers powering two western steamboat-type engines that drove the sternwheel.[1] The Neosho-class ships had a maximum speed of 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph) and they carried 50 long tons (51 t) of coal.[2]
The ship's main armament consisted of two smoothbore 11-inch (279 mm) Dahlgren guns mounted in a single turret[3] that had an arc of fire of 300°. Firing the guns tended to jam the turret until modifications were made to the guns' recoil system.[2] Each gun weighed approximately 16,000 pounds (7,300 kg). They could fire a 136-pound (61.7 kg) shell up to a range of 3,650 yards (3,340 m) at an elevation of 15°.[4] The turret and the pilothouse were protected by 6 inches (152 mm) of wrought iron while the hull had 2.5 inches (64 mm) of armor. The deck's armor plates were 1.25 inches (32 mm) thick.[3]
The first USS Neosho was laid down in mid-1862 by Eads at his Union Iron Works in Carondelet, Missouri. She was launched on 18 February 1863 and commissioned at Cairo, Illinois on 13 May 1863, with Commander John C. Febiger in command, but was not completed until 1 July. She left Cairo on 14 July 1863 and reached Vicksburg on 6 August, just over a month after it had surrendered after a lengthy siege. Neosho and other warships patrolled the Mississippi and its tributaries to prevent Confederate raiders and flying batteries from ambushing Union supply ships. One example was on 8 December 1863 when "a Confederate shore battery attacked and disabled merchant steamer Henry Von Phul; Neosho and Signal steamed up to defend the ship and silenced the battery."[5]
From 12 March to 22 May 1864, Neosho and Osage participated in the unsuccessful Red River Campaign under the command of Rear Admiral David Porter. During the retreat down the Red River, Neosho was trapped above the falls at Alexandria, Louisiana, along with most of the other ironclads of the Mississippi Squadron, when the river's water level unexpectedly began to fall. Two temporary dams, known as Bailey's Dam, had to be built in April-May to raise the water level high enough to allow the ironclads to proceed downstream. During the Franklin-Nashville Campaign in December 1864 Neosho, accompanied by the casemate ironclad Carondelet, bombarded Confederate artillery batteries on the Cumberland River, near Bell's Mills, Tennessee, on 6 December. Despite being hit over 100 times, she was not seriously damaged. The monitor bombarded the Confederate right wing during the Battle of Nashville on 15–16 December.[6]
Neosho was decommissioned at Mound City, Illinois on 23 July 1865 and remained in ordinary. She was renamed Vixen 15 June 1869 and again renamed Osceola on 2 August 1869.[5] The monitor was sold at Mound City to David Campbell 17 August 1873 for $13,600.[7]
Book: Neosho class monitors | |
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. |
|