Canonicus-class monitor

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.

Mahopac on the Appomattox River, 1864
Class overview
Operators
Preceded byPassaic class
Succeeded byMonadnock class
In commission1864–1898
Completed9
Lost3
Scrapped6
General characteristics
TypeMonitor
Tonnage1,034 tons (bm)
Displacement2,100 long tons (2,100 t)
Length
  • 235 ft (72 m) (Canonicus, Manayunk, Saugus)
  • 225 ft (69 m) (Catawba, Oneota)
  • 224 ft (68 m) (Tippecanoe)
  • 223 ft (68 m) (Mahopac, Manhattan, Techumseh)
Beam
  • 43 ft 8 in (13.31 m) (Canonicus, Manayunk, Saugus)
  • 43 ft 3 in (13.18 m) (Catawba, Oneota)
  • 43 ft (13 m) (Tippecanoe)
  • 43 ft 4 in (13.21 m) (Mahopac, Manhattan, Techumseh)
Draft
  • 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
  • 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m) (Tippecanoe)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement85 officers and enlisted men
Armament2 × 15-inch (381 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns
Armor

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.

Design

The hull lines were improved and designed speed is given as 13 knots (24 km/h) but there was no hope of getting near this. The 5 in × 1 in (127 mm × 25 mm) side armour was backed by two iron stringers 6+1⁄2 in (165 mm) deep and 6 in (152 mm) thick for 70 ft (21 m) from the bows, but 4 in (102 mm) elsewhere, and the armour lower edge was 3 in × 1 in (76 mm × 25 mm). The turret, of 21 ft (6 m) internal diameter, had 10 in × 1 in (254 mm × 25 mm) plates as did the pilot house above, and the funnel base was also armored. The turret skirt was protected by a 5 in (127 mm) thick and 15 in (381 mm) 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 during the Battle of Mobile Bay by a mine. Canonicus, the last survivor, was decommissioned 31 years before being sold. Catawba and Oneota were both sold to Peru, on 2 April 1868, without ever entering service in the US Navy.[1] Renamed by the Peruvian Navy as Atahualpa and Manco Capac respectively, they participated in the War of the Pacific, which lasted from 1879 to 1883.

Ships in class
Ship Builder Namesake Renamed Laid down Launched Commissioned or completed(*)
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 bought by the Peruvian Navy in 1867; 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 bought by the Peruvian Navy in 1867; 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*

See also

Notes
  1. Silverstone 2006, p. 7.

References
  • Canney, Donald L. (1993). The Old Steam Navy: The Ironclads, 1842–1885. Vol. 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  • Wright, Christopher C. (June 2021). "Canonicus at Jamestown, 1907". Warship International. LVIII (2): 126–162. ISSN 0043-0374.
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