The Marietta class monitor

Monitor (warship)

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

s were a pair of ironclad river monitor

River monitor

River monitors were heavily armored, and normally mounted the largest guns of all riverine warships. The name originated from the US Navy's Brown Water Navy's USS Monitor, which made her first appearance in the American Civil War, and being distinguished by a single revolving turret.On 18 December...

s laid down in the summer of 1862 for the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Construction was slow, partially for lack of labor, and the ships were not completed until December 1865, after the war was over. However the navy did not accept them until 1866 and immediately laid them up. They were sold in 1873 without ever having been commissioned.

Design and description

The Marietta-class monitors were part of a large program of armored ships ordered after the Battle of Hampton Roads

Battle of Hampton Roads

The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...

 caused the navy to favor monitors over the previous casemate ironclad

Casemate ironclad

The casemate ironclad is a type of iron or iron-armored gunboat briefly used in the American Civil War. Compared to the traditional ironclad warship, the casemate ironclad does not have its cannons in an armored gun deck, but instead has a casemate structure on the main deck housing the guns...

s of the . They were built to gain control of the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 and its many tributaries.

The original plans for the Marietta-class ships resembled the river monitor in many ways. The gun turret

Gun turret

A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...

 was at the bow and they had a deckhouse aft

Aft

Aft, in naval terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning, towards the stern of the ship, when the frame of reference is within the ship. Example: "Able Seaman Smith; lay aft!". Or; "What's happening aft?"...

. There were also twin smokestacks similar to the Mississippi River steamboat designs. The original plans also called for a forward, pyramidal pilothouse, similar to the one on , however it is believed that the pilothouse was moved to the top of the turret before construction was completed. The Marietta class ships were 177 feet (53.9 m) long overall. They had a beam

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

 of 50 feet (15.2 m) and a draft of 5 feet (1.5 m). They displaced 479 long tons (486.7 t). The ships had four steam boiler

Boiler (steam generator)

A boiler or steam generator is a device used to create steam by applying heat energy to water. Although the definitions are somewhat flexible, it can be said that older steam generators were commonly termed boilers and worked at low to medium pressure but, at pressures above this, it is more...

s powering two western steamboat-type engines that drove a single propeller

Propeller

A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

.Some sources refer to four 6 inch propellers. See Gibbons, p. 62 The Marietta-class ships had a maximum speed of 9 knots (4.9 m/s) and they carried a maximum of 150 long tons (152.4 t) of coal.

The ships' main armament consisted of two smoothbore

Smoothbore

A smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:...

, muzzle-loading 11 inches (279 mm) Dahlgren gun

Dahlgren gun

Dahlgren guns were muzzle loading naval artillery designed by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren USN, mostly used in the period of the American Civil War. Dahlgren's design philosophy evolved from an accidental explosion in 1849 of a 32-pounder being tested for accuracy, killing a gunner...

s mounted in a single gun turret

Gun turret

A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...

. Each gun weighed approximately 16000 pounds (7,257.5 kg). They could fire a 136 pounds (61.7 kg) shell up to a range of 3650 yards (3,337.6 m) at an elevation of 15°. The turret and the pilothouse

Pilothouse

A pilothouse or pilot-house is a glass-enclosed room from which a ship is controlled by the ship's pilot. The pilothouse also is known as the wheelhouse....

 were protected by 6 inches (152 mm) of wrought iron

Wrought iron

thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

 armor while the deck and hull had 1.25 inches (31.8 mm) of armor.

Construction

The contract for the two ships was awarded to Tomlinson and Hartupee Co. on 16 May 1862. Construction was at their yard in Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

. Progress was slow, delayed by labor shortages and changes by the navy. The US government allocated $188,000 each for the construction of the Marietta and Sandusky, but the final cost rose to $235,039 after charges for extra work.

History

Marietta was laid down in 1862, launched on 4 January 1865 and completed 16 December 1865. "She was accepted by the Navy on 25 April 1866. She was never commissioned. Soon after her acceptance Marietta was laid up at Mound City, Illinois

Mound City, Illinois

Mound City is a city located along the Ohio River in Pulaski County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 692. It is the county seat of Pulaski County.-Geography:Mound City is located at ....

. Renamed Circe on 15 June 1869, the gunboat carried that name only until 10 August, when she was again named Marietta. Remaining at Mound City, Marietta was sold 12 April 1873 to David Campbell" for $16,000.

Sandusky was launched in mid-January 1865; "she was not completed until 26 December 1865, and was accepted by the Navy on 25 April 1866. Never commissioned, she was renamed Minerva on 15 June 1869; but resumed the name Sandusky on 10 August 1869. The monitor was sold at Mound City, Illinois, on 17 April 1873 to David Campbell" for $18,000.