Page 787 "NEW NAVY" MONITORS PURITAN class (1); PURITAN The never finished PURITAN of the Civil War underwent the same kind of rebuilding as the four MIANTONOMOHs. Although her original plans called for a single turret carrying 4 XX-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, the revised design of the "repaired" ship called for two turrets. It is important to realize that all of the "repaired" ships were actually completely modern ships of war bearing only a vague resemblance of the first ships of the name. All five of these ships had the superstructures, military mast, and tall stack which also identified the monitors built between 1881 and 1903. Statistics (as commissioned, 1896): [34] Length overall: 296' 3" Extreme beam: 60' 1 1/2" (measured on load water line) Draft: 18' (mean) Designed speed: Not found Displacement: 6,060 tons Engines: 2 horizontal compound engines Horsepower: 3,700 indicated horsepower Boilers: 8 single-ended cylindrical Bunker capacity: 410 tons coal Screws: Twin screw, diameter not found Complement: 200 (approx.) Armament: 4 12-inch breech loading rifles and assorted 4-inch and 6-pdrs. Armor: Turret, 8"; side, 14" PURITAN (BM-1) Date of contract: Not applicable Launched: 6 December 1882 Commissioned: 10 December 1896, Captain J. R. Bartlett Builder: John Roach & Son, Chester, Pa., and New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. Service speed: 12.40 knots on trials [34] For statistics on PURITAN as originally designed and laid down in 1862, see Coastal Monitors, Puritan class, p. 763; for a further note on her reconstruction, see p. 754. AMPHITRITE class (4); AMPHITRITE, MIANTONOMOH, MONADNOCK, TERROR The Civil War monitors of the MIANTONOMOH class, although regarded as the best of this type of warship by American naval officers deteriorated rapidly after the war. The wood armor backing and other timbers in the ships' hulls suffered from dry rot and within the first ten years after the war their combat value had become almost. Accordingly, in 1874-75 Secretary of the Navy George Robeson decided to carry out extensive "repairs" the ships. The repairs were so extensive involving the construction of new iron hulls as to result in entirely new ships. However, since the funds for new construction had not been appropriated by the Congress, Robeson maintained the fiction that the ships were actually still the Civil War monitors and so the names never dropped from Navy List. A national scandal resulted when this and the fact that Robeson had been paying for the new ships with old came to light. But, Robeson's action marked the beginnings of the movement to reestablish the United States as a strong naval power. The AMPHITRITEs were begun in private yards and completed in naval shipyards, construction having been suspended for a time and progress slow throughout. MONADNOCK was one of the only two monitors to cross the Pacific, doing so in 1898. Statistics (as commissioned, 1891-96) [35] Length overall: 262' 9"; MIANTONOMOH, TERROR, 263' 1"; MONADNOCK, 262' 3" Extreme beam: 55' 10"; Terror, 55' 6"; MONADNOCK 55' 5"; AMPHITRITE, MIANTONOMOH, 55' 4" (all measured on load water line) Draft :14' 6" (mean); TERROR, 14' 8" Depth of hold: 17' Designed speed :12 knots; MONADNOCK, 14.5 knots Displacement: 3,990 tons Engines: 2 horizontal compound engines; MONADNOCK, 2 horizontal triple expansion engines Horsepower 1,600 indicated horsepower; MONADNOCK, 3,000 indicated horsepower Boilers: AMPHITRITE, 4 Babcock & Wilcox; MIANTONOMOH, TERROR, 6 single-ended cylindrical; MONADNOCK, 4 single-ended cylindrical Bunker capacity: 270 tons coal (approx.); MONADNOCK, 386 tons coal [36] Screws: Twin screw, 12' diameter Complement: 150 (approx.) Armament 4 10-inch breech loading rifles and assorted 4-inch and 6-pdrs. Armor: AMPHITRITE, turret, 7"; side, 9" [37] MIANTONOMOH, turret, 11 1/2"; side, 7" MONADNOCK, turret, 7 1/2"; side, 9" TERROR, turret, 11"; side, 7" [35] For statistics on the monitors bearing these names as originally commissioned in 1864-65, see Coastal Monitors, MIANTONOMOH class, p. 768; for a further note on their reconstruction. see p. 754. [36] The ships normally carried 250 tons of coal when operating. [37] The side armor described here was actually what is now known as a "belt". The thickness given here and in other post-Civil War monitors is taken at the water line. AMPHITRITE (BM-2): Date of contract: Not applicable Launched: 7 June 1883 Commissioned: 23 April 1895, Captain W. C. Wise Builder: Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Del. and Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va. Service speed: 10.5 knots on trials MIANTONOMOH (BM-5): Date of contract: Not applicable Launched: 6 December 1876 Commissioned: 27 October 1891, Captain Montgomery Sicard [38] Builder: John Roach Son, Chester, Pa. and New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. Service speed: 10.5 knots on trials [38] MIANTONOMOH was in commission briefly during 1882 and 1883, during which time she went from Philadelphia to Washington, and, later, to New York where the final phases of her reconstruction were completed. During this period she carried no main armament. MONADNOCK (BM-3): Date of contract: Not applicable Launched :19 September 1883 Commissioned: 20 February 189, Captain G. W. Sumner Page 788-89 (Photos) Page 790 Builder: Phineas Burgess at the Continental Iron Works, Vallejo, Calif., and Mare Island Navy Yard, San Francisco, Calif. Service speed :11.63 knots on trials TERROR (BM-4): Date of contract: Not applicable Launched: 24 March 1883 Commissioned: 15 April 1896, Captain P. F. Harrington Builder: Wm. Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa., and New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. Service speed :10.50 knots on trials MONTEREY class ( 1 ); MONTEREY The double-turreted Monterey was the first monitor to be laid down for the new steel Navy of the 1880's. Built in San Francisco for service on the Pacific Station she represented an effort to strengthen the force of armored ships in the Pacific. In 1887, when MONTEREY was authorized, MONADNOCK, then rebuilding, was the only potentially effective American armored vessel in the Pacific although CAMANCHE was still available. One of the design features of the Civil War CASCO class which added to their displacement problems reappeared in MONTEREY although in a much more refined and successful form. This feature was the provision of large water-ballast tanks which enabled her freeboard to be decreased by flooding prior to action. The actual cost of MONTEREY was $2,065,779.30. MONTEREY and MONADNOCK were the only two monitors to cross the Pacific. Both ships were sent to the Philippines to strengthen Dewey's fleet. however, they did not arrive until August of 1898, too late to participate in the Battle of Manila Bay. Statistics: Length overall: 260' 11" Extreme beam: 59' 1/2" (measured on load water line) Draft: 14' 10" (mean) Designed speed: Not found Displacement: 4,084 tons Engines: 2 vertical triple-expansion engines Horsepower: 5,250 indicated horsepower Boilers: 4 Babcock & Wilcox Bunker capacity: 230 tons coal Screws: Twin screw, 10' 2" diameter Complement: 190 (approx.) Armament: 2 12-inch and 2 10-inch breech loading rifles and assorted 6-pdrs. Armor: Turret, 8"; side, 13" MONTEREY (BM-6): Date of contract :14 June 1889 Launched: 28 April 1891 Commissioned: 13 February 1893, Captain Louis Kemp Builder: Union Iron Works, San Francisco, Calif. Service speed: 13.60 knots on trial ARKANSAS class (4); ARKANSAS, CONNECTICUT, FLORIDA, WYOMING The ARKANSAS class was the last group of monitors to be constructed for the U.S. Navy although the navies of Great Britain and Italy built and used monitors for shore bombardment during World War I and the former used them during World War II as well. Single turreted monitors, they mounted the most modern heavy guns in the U.S. Navy at the time they were built, 12 inch 40 calibre weapons. The ARKANSAS class did not see any combat during World War I and instead served as submarine tenders. Alexander C. Brown, writing in the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Historical transactions noted in a penetrating comment that: "Monitors found their final employment as submarine tenders in World War I for which their low freeboard hulls made them well suited. It is significant to note, however, that in this humble capacity they were ministering to the needs of that type of craft which had logically replaced them for as initially envisaged monitors were designed to combine heavy striking power with concealment and the presentation of a negligible target area ..." Statistics: Length overall: 255' 1" Extreme beam: 50' (measured on load water line) Draft: 12' 6" (mean) Designed speed: 12.50 knots Displacement: 3,225 tons Engines: 2 vertical triple-expansion engines Horsepower: 2,400 indicated horsepower Boilers: 4, ARKANSAS, Thornycroft; CONNECTICUT, Niclausse; FLORIDA, Mosher; WYOMING, Babcock & Wilcox Bunker capacity: 350 tons coal (approx.); WYOMING, 129 tons coal Screws: Twin screw, l6' diameter (approx.) Complement: 220 (approx.) Page 791 (Photos) Page 793 Armament: 2 12-inch breech loading rifles and assorted 4-inch and 6-pdrs. Armor: Turret, 10"; side, 8" ARKANSAS (2 March 1900 OZARK (BM-7)): Date of contract :11 October 1898 Launched :10 November 1900 Commissioned: 28 October 1902, Comdr. C. E. Vreeland Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Newport News, Va. Service speed :12.03 knots on trials CONNECTICUT (January 1901 NEVADA, 2 March 1909 TONOPAH (BM-8)): Date of contract :19 October 1898 Launched: 24 November 1900 Commissioned: 5 March 1903, Comdr. T. B. Howard Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine Service speed: 13.04 knots on trials FLORIDA (20 June 1908 TALLAHASSEE (BM-10)): Date of contract :11 October 1898 Launched: 30 November 1901 Commissioned: 18 June 1903, Comdr. J. C. Fremont Builder: Lewis Nixon at the Crescent Shipyard, Elizabethport, N.J. Service speed: 12.40 knots on trials WYOMING (1 January 1909 CHEYENNE (BM-10)): Date of contract: 5 October 1898 Launched: 8 September 1900 Commissioned: 8 December 1902, Comdr. V. L. Cottman Builder: Union Iron Works, San Francisco, Calif. Service speed: 11.80 knots on trials