USS Tonawanda (1864)

USS Tonawanda was a double-turreted coastal monitor built by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, launched on 6 May 1864; and commissioned on 12 October 1865, Commander William Ronckendorff in command.

The Tonawanda was designed by Chief of Naval Engineering John Lenthall. 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 Tonawanda 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.

Service history

Completed too late for service in the Civil War, Tonawanda was decommissioned at the Washington Navy Yard on 22 December 1865. Reactivated on 23 October 1866 for duty as a training ship at the United States Naval Academy, she was serving in that capacity when she was renamed Amphitrite on 15 June 1869. Her assignment at Annapolis, MD ended in 1872, and she was taken to the Delaware River and broken up in 1873 and 1874 by the Harlan and Hollingsworth Co., Wilmington, DE under the guise of being "rebuilt" into a modern monitor. The completely new monitor that replaced her was also named Amphitrite, but shared nothing but the name with the older ship.

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History & Heritage Command.
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• 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.