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Canonicus-class monitor
USS Canonicus (1863)
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: Flag of the United States United States Navy
Flag of Peru (state) Peruvian Navy
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: 320 ihp (240 kW)
2 × Stimers fire-tube boilers
Propulsion: 1 × Propeller
1 × Vibrating-lever steam engine
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:

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[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Silverstone 2006, pp. 6–7

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. Department of Defense: Legacy Resource Management Program. http://www.denix.osd.mil/cr/upload/94-1704_hi-res.pdf. 



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The original article can be found at Canonicus-class monitor and the edit history here.
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