Canonicus-class monitor

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.

Mahopac on the Appomattox River, 1864
Class overview
Operators	United States Navy Peruvian Navy
Preceded by	Passaic class
Succeeded by	Monadnock class
In commission	1864–1898
Completed	9
Lost	3
Scrapped	6
General characteristics
Type	Monitor
Displacement	2,100 long tons (2,100 t)
Tons burthen	1,034 tons (bm)
Length	235 ft (72 m) (Canonicus, Manayunk, Saugus) 225 ft (69 m) (Catawba, Oneota) 224 ft (68 m) (Tippecanoe) 223 ft (68 m) (Mahopac, Manhattan, Techumseh)
Beam	43 ft 8 in (13.31 m) (Canonicus, Manayunk, Saugus) 43 ft 3 in (13.18 m) (Catawba, Oneota) 43 ft (13 m) (Tippecanoe) 43 ft 4 in (13.21 m) (Mahopac, Manhattan, Techumseh)
Draft	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m) (Tippecanoe)
Installed power	4 × fire-tube boilers 320 ihp (240 kW)
Propulsion	1 × propeller 1 × vibrating-lever steam engine
Speed	8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement	85 officers and enlisted men
Armament	2 × 15-inch (381 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns
Armor	Gun turret: 10 in (250 mm) Waterline belt: 5 in (130 mm) Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm)

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.

Design

The hull lines were improved and designed speed is given as 13 knots (24 km/h) but there was no hope of getting near this. The 5 in × 1 in (127 mm × 25 mm) side armour was backed by two iron stringers 6+1⁄2 in (165 mm) deep and 6 in (152 mm) thick for 70 ft (21 m) from the bows, but 4 in (102 mm) elsewhere, and the armour lower edge was 3 in × 1 in (76 mm × 25 mm). The turret, of 21 ft (6 m) internal diameter, had 10 in × 1 in (254 mm × 25 mm) plates as did the pilot house above, and the funnel base was also armored. The turret skirt was protected by a 5 in (127 mm) thick and 15 in (381 mm) high ring fixed to the turret, 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 during the Battle of Mobile Bay by a mine. Canonicus, the last survivor, was decommissioned 31 years before being sold. Catawba and Oneota were both sold to Peru, on 2 April 1868, without ever entering service in the US Navy. Renamed by the Peruvian Navy as Atahualpa and Manco Capac respectively, they participated in the War of the Pacific, which lasted from 1879 to 1883.

Ships in class

Ship	Builder	Namesake	Renamed	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned or completed(*)
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	bought by the Peruvian Navy in 1867; 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	bought by the Peruvian Navy in 1867; 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*

See also

• List of ironclads

References

• Canney, Donald L. (1993). The Old Steam Navy: The Ironclads, 1842–1885. Vol. 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 (PDF). Department of Defense: Legacy Resource Management Program. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
• Wright, Christopher C. (June 2021). "Canonicus at Jamestown, 1907". Warship International. LVIII (2): 126–162. ISSN 0043-0374.