Canonicus-class monitor
.jpg) USS Canonicus with a schooner alongside, probably in the James River area, Virginia, in 1864–65. The tug USS Zeta is in the foreground. | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators: | |
| Preceded by: | Passaic-class monitor |
| Succeeded by: | Monadnock-class monitor |
| In commission: | 1864–1898 |
| Completed: | 9 |
| Lost: | 3 |
| Scrapped: | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Monitor |
| Tonnage: | 1,034 tons (bm) |
| Displacement: | 2,100 long tons (2,100 t) |
| Length: | 223 ft (68.0 m) |
| Beam: | 43 ft 4 in (13.2 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 6 in (4.1 m) |
| Installed power: |
|
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) |
| Complement: | 100 officers and enlisted men |
| Armament: | 2 × 15-inch (381 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns |
| Armor: |
|
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The Canonicus-class monitor was a class of nine monitors built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. They saw service in the Civil War and the Spanish–American War, although two of them were never commissioned.
They were basically improved Passaics, modified in accordance with war experience. 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.
Ships
| Ship | Builder[1] | Namesake | Renamed[1] | Laid down[1] | Launched[1] | Commissioned or completed(*)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajax | Snowden & Mason, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Manayunk, Philadelphia | Manayunk, 1862; Ajax, 15 June 1869 | 1862 | 18 December 1864 | 27 September 1865* |
| Canonicus | Harrison Loring, Boston, Massachusetts | Canonicus | Scylla, 15 June 1869; Canonicus, 10 August 1869 | 1862 | 1 August 1863 | 16 April 1864 |
| Catawba | Alexander Swift & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio | Catawba River | Atahualpa | 1862 | 13 April 1864 | 10 June 1865* |
| Mahopac | Secor & Co., Jersey City, New Jersey | Lake Mahopac | Castor, 15 June 1869; Mahopac, 10 August 1869 | 1862 | 17 May 1864 | 22 September 1864 |
| Manhattan | Perine, Secor & Co., Jersey City, New Jersey | Manhattan Indians | Neptune, 15 June 1869; Manhattan, 10 August 1869 | 1862 | 14 October 1863 | 6 June 1864 |
| Oneota | Alexander Swift & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio | Oneota Tribe of the Sioux Indians | Manco Cápac | 1862 | 21 May 1864 | 10 June 1865* |
| Saugus | Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Delaware | Saugus, Massachusetts | Centaur, 15 June 1869; Saugus, 10 August 1869 | 1862 | 8 February 1864 | 27 August 1864 |
| Tecumseh | Charles Secor & Co., Jersey City, New Jersey | Tecumseh | Not Applicable | 1862 | 12 September 1863 | 19 April 1864 |
| Wyandotte | Miles Greenwood, Cincinnati, Ohio | Wyandotte Tribe | Tippecanoe, 1869; Wyandotte, 10 August 1869 | 22 September 1862 | 22 December 1864 | 15 February 1866* |
Notes
References
- Canney, Donald L. (1993). The Old Steam Navy: The Ironclads, 1842–1885 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-586-8.
- Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Friend, Jack (2004). West Wind, Flood Tide: The Battle of Mobile Bay. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-292-8.
- Olmstead, Edwin; Stark, Wayne E.; Tucker, Spencer C. (1997). The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon. Alexandria Bay, New York: Museum Restoration Service. ISBN 0-88855-012-X.
- Roberts, William H. (2002). Civil War Ironclads: The U.S. Navy and Industrial Mobilization. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins Press. ISBN 0-8018-6830-0.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). Civil War Navies 1855–1883. The U.S. Navy Warship Series. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-97870-X.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- West, W. Wilson, Jr. (1996). USS Tecumseh Shipwreck: Management Plan (PDF). Department of Defense: Legacy Resource Management Program.
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