USS Puritan (1864)

USS Puritan was originally designed as a double-turreted ironclad monitor, the plans were altered to the specifications of John Ericsson, Puritan’s builder, following a long debate with the Navy; she was built with a single turret.

Contracted 28 July 1862 to Ericsson, who in turn subcontracted the hull to the Continental Iron Works of Greenpoint, New York and the machinery to the Allaire Iron Works of New York City, she was launched 2 July 1864. However, due to delays in construction and the casting of the 20-inch smoothbores she was never completed, her construction being suspended in 1865.

After the war, Puritan deteriorated on the stocks. In 1874–75 Secretary of the Navy George Robeson decided to carry out extensive repairs on Puritan. Funds were not appropriated for new construction, but the condition of the ship’s hulls necessitated building essentially new ships, bearing no real resemblance to the originals. A scandal resulted when it was discovered that Robeson was paying for new ships with the old ones; the first Puritan was turned over to John Roach of Chester, Pennsylvania as partial payment for the “unauthorized” construction of the second Puritan.