USS Puritan (1864)
| 300px A line engraving of the USS Puritan | |
| Career | United States Navy Jack |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 28 July 1862 |
| Builder: | Continental Iron Works |
| Launched: | 2 July 1864 |
| Commissioned: | Never commissioned |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1874 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 4,912 tons |
| Length: | 340 ft (100 m) |
| Beam: | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Draft: | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | 6 Martin boilers, 2 shafts, Ericsson vibrating lever engines, ca. 3,500 ihp (2,573 kW) |
| Speed: | 11 knots |
| Complement: | 175 |
| Armament: | 2 × 20 in (508 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns (1 × 2) |
| Armor: |
Iron Side: 6 - 2 in (12.7 - 5.1 cm) Turret: 15 in (38.1 cm) Deck: 2 in (5.1 cm) |
The USS Puritan was originally designed as a double-turreted ironclad monitor, the plans were altered to the specifications of John Ericsson, Puritan’s builder, following a long debate with the Navy; she was built with a single turret. Contracted 28 July 1862 to Ericsson, who in turn subcontracted the hull to the Continental Iron Works of Greenpoint, New York and the machinery to the Allaire Iron Works of New York City, she was launched 2 July 1864. However, due to delays in construction and the casting of the 15-inch smoothbores she was never completed, her construction being suspended in 1865.
During the years following the war, Puritan along with several other monitors suffered extensive deterioration with their combat value likewise decreasing. In 1874–75 Secretary of the Navy George Robeson decided to carry out extensive repairs on Puritan and four monitors of the Miantonomoh-class.
A line engraving of the planned USS Puritan refit.
A line engraving of the planned USS Puritan refit that was actually constructed as the BM-1.
Funds were not appropriated for new construction, but the condition of the ship’s hulls particularly, necessitated building essentially new ships, bearing no real resemblance to the originals. A scandal resulted when the fact came to light that Robeson was paying for new ships with the old ones. As a result, the first Puritan was turned over to John Roach of Chester, Pennsylvania as partial payment for the “unauthorized” construction of the second Puritan: the name was not changed on the Navy List due to belief that the “repaired” vessel was still the Civil War monitor.
See also
- See USS Puritan for other ships of this name.
References
- This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
- Technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 122. ISBN 0 85177 133 5.
