USS Cairo

Type

Ironclad

Period

19th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: USS Cairo was the lead ship of the City class (also called Cairo class) of Union river ironclad gunboats built by James B. Eads for service on the Mississippi and its tributaries during the Civil War. She is historically notable as the first armored warship ever sunk by an electrically/mechanically detonated underwater mine ("torpedo"), and today is one of the very few surviving Civil War-era ironclads. Specifications: The City class ironclads were built to a common design roughly 175 feet long, displacing about 512 tons, drawing around 6 feet of water, and carrying a crew near 175-250 officers and men (contemporary sources vary on exact crew size). Cairo mounted a battery reported at 13 guns and had sloped, iron-plated casemate sides typical of Eads's river ironclad design, with a large stern-mounted paddlewheel protected within the casemate rather than exposed side wheels. Service History: Commissioned in January 1862 and assigned to the Union Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla under Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote, Cairo took part in the occupations of Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee, the reduction of Fort Pillow, and an engagement off Memphis against a Confederate gunboat flotilla. On 12 December 1862, while clearing torpedoes from the Yazoo River ahead of a planned Union move on Vicksburg, she struck mines and sank within about twelve minutes, though her entire crew survived. Notable Facts: The wreck lay buried and preserved in Yazoo River silt for a century until located in 1956 by park historian Edwin C. Bearss and finally raised in 1964; the raising broke the fragile hull into three sections, but recovered a remarkable time-capsule of intact Civil War-era naval artifacts. After restoration work at Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, the reassembled hull and reconstructed superstructure were transferred to the National Park Service and put on outdoor display at Vicksburg National Military Park, where modelers can view surviving casemate framing, boilers, guns, and paddlewheel components firsthand.