USS Patapsco (1862)
![]() Pencil sketch of USS Patapsco
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History | |
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Name | USS Patapsco |
Builder | Harlan & Hollingsworth |
Laid down | Unknown |
Launched | 27 September 1862 |
Commissioned | 2 January 1863 |
Stricken | 1865 (est.) |
Fate | Sunk by mine on 15 January 1865 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Passaic-class ironclad monitor |
Displacement | 1,875 long tons (1,905 t) |
Length | 241 ft (73 m) |
Beam | 46 ft (14 m) |
Draft | 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) |
Installed power | 320 ihp (240 kW) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 6 kn (6.9 mph; 11 km/h) |
Complement | 105 officers and enlisted |
Armament | 1 × 15 in (380 mm) smoothbore gun, 1 × 8 in (200 mm) Parrott rifle |
Armor | |
Notes | Armor is iron. |
USS Patapsco was a Passaic-class ironclad monitor in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the Patapsco River in Maryland.
Built in Wilmington, Delaware[edit]
Patapsco was the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear that name. She was built by Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Delaware; launched on 27 September 1862; and commissioned on 2 January 1863, Commander Daniel Ammen in command.
Civil War service[edit]
Assigned to the South Atlantic blockade[edit]
Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, she took part in a bombardment of Fort McAllister on 3 March. On 7 April, Patapsco joined eight other ironclads in a vigorous attack on Fort Sumter, and received 47 hits from Confederate gunfire during that day.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Monitor_officers2.jpg/300px-Monitor_officers2.jpg)
Beginning in mid-July, she began her participation in a lengthy bombardment campaign against Charleston's defending fortifications. This led to the capture of Fort Wagner in early September. Fort Sumter was reduced to a pile of rubble, but remained a formidable opponent.
In November 1863, Patapsco tested a large obstruction-clearing explosive device that had been devised by John Ericsson. Remaining off South Carolina and Georgia during much of 1864 and into 1865, the monitor — or her boat crews — took part in a reconnaissance of the Wilmington River, Georgia, in January 1864 and helped capture or destroy enemy sailing vessels in February and November of that year.
Sunk by a mine[edit]
On 15 January 1865, while participating in obstruction clearance operations in Charleston Harbor, Patapsco struck a Confederate mine and sank, with 75 lost. The ship's Executive Officer, Lieutenant William T. Sampson was one of a handful of survivors.
References[edit]
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Additional technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 120. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
External links[edit]
- Passaic-class monitors
- Ships built by Harlan and Hollingsworth
- 1862 ships
- Ships of the Union Navy
- American Civil War monitors of the United States
- American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States
- Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast
- Shipwrecks of the American Civil War
- Maritime incidents in January 1865
- Ships sunk by mines