The first USS Miantonomoh was the lead ship of her class of four ironclad monitors built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. Completed after the war ended in May 1865, the ship made one cruise off the East Coast before she began a voyage across the North Atlantic in May 1866 to conduct a lengthy showing the flag mission in Europe. Miantonomoh was decommissioned upon her return in 1867, but was reactivated two years later and assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron before decommissioning again in 1870. The monitor was sold for scrap three years later as part of a scheme where the Navy Department evaded the Congressional refusal to order new ships by claiming that the Civil War-era ship was being repaired while building a new monitor of the same name.
Her main battery consisted of four smoothbore, muzzle-loading, 15-inch (381 mm) Dahlgren guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the single funnel.[1] Each gun weighed approximately 43,000 pounds (20,000 kg). They could fire a 350-pound (158.8 kg) shell up to a range of 2,100 yards (1,900 m) at an elevation of +7°.[6]
The sides of the hull of the Miantonomoh-class ships were protected by five layers of 1-inch (25 mm) wrought-iron plates that tapered at their bottom edge down to total of 3 inches (76 mm), backed by 12–14 inches (305–356 mm) of wood. The armor of the gun turret consisted of ten layers of one-inch plates and the pilot house had eight layers. The ship's deck was protected by armor 1.5 inches (38 mm) thick.[4] The bases of the funnel and the ventilator were also protected by unknown thicknesses of armor.[3] A 5-by-15-inch (127 by 381 mm) soft iron band was fitted around the base of the turrets to prevent shells and fragments from jamming them as had happened during the First Battle of Charleston Harbor in April 1863.[7]
Construction and career
Miantonomoh (center right) and her escorts Augusta (left) and Ashuelot (right) in St John's, Newfoundland, May–June 1866
The nominal reason for the voyage was an instruction by Secretary of the NavyGideon Welles that Fox was to deliver to TsarAlexander II of Russia a copy of a Joint Resolution of the Congress which expressed "deep regret" at the recent attempt by Dmitry Karakozov on the Tsar's life and congratulations on his escape from harm.[8] The voyage was also intended to reciprocate lengthy visits by squadrons of the Imperial Russian Navy to New York and San Francisco during the Civil War and to enhance the prestige of the United States among the European powers.[10][11] Welles also requested that Fox collect information on naval developments in Europe.[8]
Departing St. John's on 5 June, the three ships crossed the Atlantic in less than 11 days. Fox described the first ocean crossing of an ironclad monitor as "a pleasant trip." During much of the voyage she was towed by Augusta "as a matter of convenience and precaution rather than necessity",[8] although a shortage of coal may have played a role. Bythesea thought that the weather was almost too fine to test the monitor's seaworthiness and found that her interior was very dry.[12] After reaching Queenstown on 16 June, where the ships were met by the British broadside ironcladsAchilles and Black Prince, they proceeded to Portsmouth, arriving on the 23rd. Miantonomoh was an object of great curiosity to the British public and newspaper reporters were allowed aboard to publish their impressions. Beaumont, Bythesea and Fox gave a guided tour to the Board of Admiralty and the inventor of a different type of armored turret, Captain Cowper Coles, on 29 June before her departure for France. The ship's Dahlgrens were fired for the visitors and the onlooking spectators.[13]
Fox debarked at Cherbourg for unproductive talks with EmperorNapoleon III. Miantonomoh returned to England on 7 July to host more visitors,[8] including the Prince of Wales and his brother Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.[14] "The success of her reception in England typified her subsequent visits to other European nations during the next several months." Miantonomoh steamed to Denmark later that month where she was inspected by King Christian IX and his family before departing for Russia at the end of the month.[8] The monitor rendezvoused with a large contingent of the Imperial Russian Navy, including the armored frigatesSevastopol and Ne Tron Menia, the monitor Smerch and four Uragan-class monitors at Helsingfors (Helsinki), Finland,[15] and escorted her to Kronshtadt where she arrived 5 August. During that time Miantonomoh was viewed by the Tsar, his family, and leading Russian naval officers, including the naval architectRear AdmiralAndrei Popov, who later traveled aboard the ship from Hamburg, Prussia, to Cherbourg.[8][10]
Miantonomoh ferried Fox to Stockholm, Sweden, in mid-September and then to Kiel, Prussia, on 1 October. Over the next six months the monitor called at French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian ports before departing British Gibraltar on 15 May 1867 in company with Augusta. They steamed via the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, Caribbean ports and the Bahamas, before the monitor arrived at Philadelphia on 22 July, thus completing a cruise of more than 17,700 nautical miles (32,800 km; 20,400 mi). Miantonomoh was decommissioned there four days later.[8]
With Commander Robert Shufeldt in command, Miantonomoh was recommissioned on 15 November 1869 for service with the North Atlantic Squadron. Two months later the ship was tasked to join a small group of ships under the command of AdmiralDavid Farragut that escorted the British ironclad Monarch to Portland, Maine, as it ferried the body of the philanthropist George Peabody from London to his final resting place. She remained on active duty until 28 July 1870 when she was decommissioned at Boston, Massachusetts.[8] Although Congress was informed by the Navy Department that the Civil War-era ship was being repaired, a new iron-hulled monitor of the same name was built with repair money and the proceeds of her sale in 1875 because Congress refused to fund any new construction at this time.[3][8]
^"Amerikan Monitorit". Pohjan-Tähti (in Finnish). No. 4. Oulu. 22 August 1866. p. 2. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
References
Arbuzov, V. V. (1993). Bronenosets Petr Velikii [Battleship Peter the Great]. Battleships of the Russian Fleet (in Russian). Vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Nauchno-populiarnoe izdanie.
Canney, Donald L. (1993). The Old Steam Navy: The Ironclads, 1842–1885. Vol. 2. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-87021-586-8.
"Miantonomoh I (Monitor)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
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. ISBN0-88855-012-X.
Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). Civil War Navies 1855-1883. The U.S. Navy Warship Series. New York: Routledge. ISBN0-415-97870-X.
United States
