USS New Ironsides

Type

Ironclad

Period

19th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: USS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War, and was the only true seagoing, high-freeboard ironclad completed by the Union. She was named in honor of USS Constitution, whose nickname "Old Ironsides" came from her famous 1812 fight with HMS Guerriere; since Constitution was still in commission the name "New Ironsides" was used instead. Specifications: She displaced roughly 4,120 long tons, measured 230 ft (70.1 m) between perpendiculars with a 57 ft 6 in beam and 15 ft 8 in draft, and was built with a wooden hull sheathed in iron armor (4.5 in belt and battery, 1 in deck, 2.5 in bulkheads). Propulsion was a single screw driven by two direct-acting steam engines fed by four boilers, giving about 7-8 knots, and she originally carried a three-masted bark rig later removed. Her broadside battery of fourteen 11-inch Dahlgren guns plus Parrott and Dahlgren rifles made her the most heavily armed U.S. warship of the war. Design & Construction: Ordered in 1861 from the Ironclad Board alongside USS Monitor and USS Galena, she was designed by Merrick & Sons of Philadelphia (who subcontracted construction to William Cramp & Sons) and was heavily influenced by the French ironclad Gloire, making her design more conservative than Monitor's. She was launched 10 May 1862 and commissioned 21 August 1862. Service History: After fitting out, New Ironsides joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Charleston in January 1863, taking part in the First and Second Battles of Charleston Harbor and the bombardment of Fort Wagner, surviving repeated hits and two Confederate spar-torpedo boat attacks (including one by CSS David) with only modest damage. She later shelled the defenses at Fort Fisher, North Carolina in the campaigns to close Wilmington before being decommissioned on 6 April 1865. Notable Facts: Laid up at League Island, Philadelphia after the war, New Ironsides was accidentally destroyed by a fire (reportedly from an unattended stove) in December 1865/1866, ending her three-year career with no direct design descendants in the U.S. Navy despite her success. Because her heavy broadside battery and armor made her a linear descendant of European ironclad thinking rather than the low-freeboard monitor line, modelers often note her as a bridge between Gloire/Warrior-style designs and later high-freeboard battleships.