USS Cairo
USS Cairo at anchor
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Cairo |
Namesake | City of Cairo, Illinois |
Operator | US Army |
Ordered | August(?) 1861 |
Builder | James Eads and Company, Mound City, Illinois |
Laid down | 1861 |
Launched | 1861 |
Commissioned | 25 January 1862 |
Fate | Transferred to the US Navy |
United States | |
Name | Cairo |
Commissioned | 1 October 1862 |
Fate | Sunk by mine, 12 December 1862 |
Status | Raised, 1964, museum ship |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | ironclad |
Tonnage | 512 |
Length | 175 ft (53.3 m) |
Beam | 51 ft 2 in (15.6 m) |
Draft | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
Installed power | 5 fire-tube boilers |
Propulsion | |
Speed | 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) |
Complement | 251 officers and enlisted men |
Armament | (see section below ) |
Armor |
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USS Cairo | |
Coordinates | 32°22′33″N 90°52′0″W / 32.37583°N 90.86667°W |
Built | 1861 |
NRHP reference No. | 71000068 |
Added to NRHP | 3 September 1971 |
USS Cairo /ˈkeɪroʊ/ is the lead ship of the City-class casemate ironclads built at the beginning of the American Civil War to serve as river gunboats.
Cairo is named for
The remains of Cairo can be viewed at Vicksburg National Military Park with a museum of its weapons and naval stores.
Service in the American Civil War
Cairo was built by
Cairo served with the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla on the
Active in the occupation of Clarksville, Tennessee, 17 February 1862, and of Nashville, Tennessee, 25 February, Cairo stood down the river on 12 April, escorting mortar boats to begin the lengthy operations against Fort Pillow. An engagement with Confederate gunboats at Plum Point Bend on 11 May, marked a series of blockading and bombardment activities which culminated into the abandonment of the fort by its defenders on 4 June.[2]
On 6 June 1862, two days later, Cairo joined in the triumph of seven Union ships and a tug over eight Confederate gunboats off Memphis. Five of the opposing gunboats were sunk or run ashore during this action; two were seriously damaged, and one managed to escape. That night, Union forces occupied the city. Cairo returned to patrol on the Mississippi until 21 November, when she joined the
On 12 December 1862, while clearing mines from the river, preparatory to the attack on Haines Bluff, Cairo struck a "torpedo"[2] (or naval mine) detonated by volunteers hidden behind the river bank and sank in 12 minutes. There were no casualties.[3]
Armament
Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads, Cairo had her armament changed over the life of the vessel. To speed up her entrance into the service, Cairo and the other City-class ships were fitted with whatever weapons were on hand, then had their weapons upgraded as new pieces were made available. Though the 8 in (203 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns were fairly modern, most of the other original weapons were antiquated, such as the 32-pounders, or modified, such as the 42-pounder "rifles". These were old smoothbores that had been made into rifles. The 42-pounder weapons were of particular concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker and more prone to exploding than purpose-built rifled cannons. Additionally, the close confines of combat on the rivers greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat.[4][5]
January 1862 | November 1862 |
• 3 × 8-inch smoothbores • 6 × 42-pounder rifle • 6 × 32-pounder rifles • 1 × 12-pounder rifle |
• 3 × 8-inch smoothbores • 3 × 42-pounder rifles • 6 × 32-pounder rifle • 1 × 30-pounder rifle • 1 × 12-pounder rifle |
Discovery of the wreck
Over the years, the gunboat was forgotten and slowly covered by silt and sand. Impacted in mud, Cairo became a time capsule in which her unique, historical artifacts were preserved against corrosion and biological degradation. Her whereabouts became a matter of speculation, as members of the crew had died and local residents were unsure of the location.
Studying Civil War maps, Edwin C. Bearss of Vicksburg National Military Park set out to search for the lost ship using a simple magnetic compass. With the assistance of Don Jacks and Warren Grabau, the ship was found in 1956. In 1960, numerous artifacts were recovered from the ship, including the pilothouse and an 8-inch cannon, both preserved by the Yazoo River mud.
With support from the State of Mississippi, State Senator H.V. Cooper and local authorities, the gunboat was salvaged from the bottom of the river.[6][7]
Salvage and museum
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2017) |
Hopes of lifting the ironclad and her cargo of artifacts intact were crushed in October 1964, when the 3-inch cables being used to lift Cairo cut deeply into its wooden hull. It then became a question of saving as much of the vessel as possible. A decision was made to cut Cairo into three sections. By the end of December, the battered remains were put on barges and towed to
In 1972, the
The recovery of artifacts from Cairo revealed a treasure trove of weapons, ammunition, naval stores, and personal gear of the sailors who served on board. The gunboat and its artifacts can now be seen along the tour road at the USS Cairo Museum. These include a sailor's rope knife in good condition.[8]
Since salvage, Cairo has suffered degradation due to exposure to the elements, bird droppings, and vandalism.[9] There are only four surviving Civil War-era ironclads in existence: USS Monitor, CSS Neuse, USS Cairo, and CSS Muscogee.
Gallery
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USS Cairo in her final resting place at Vicksburg National Military Park. A wooden framework has been built to support what remains of the ship.
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One of the cannons on the side of the Cairo. The framework for the paddlewheels is in the background.
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Capstan of the Cairo, used to lift the anchor, and to pull hawsers taut.
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George R. Yost, aged 14, served as 1st Class Boy aboard the Cairo.
See also
- Anaconda Plan
- Mississippi Squadron
- Union Navy
- List of United States Navy ships
Notes
- War Department, were manned by Navy personnel, and were under the ultimate command of the US Army theater commander.
- ^ a b c d e DANFS.
- ^ Gunboats on the Mississippi
Calibres quoted are for the bore, not the shot, and are quoted to the nearest millimetre.- ISBN 978-1-84176-444-3
- ^ "USS Cairo Gunboat and Museum". National Park Service. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
- ^ Chambers, Elsie May. "A Slow Job: Cairo Will Surfacing Soon". Clarion-Ledger, Jackson MS. September 28, 1964
- ^ Knives and their values, 4th edition by Bernard Levine.
- ^ Ballam, Ed. "Man Indicted For Damaging The U.S.S. 'Cairo'". Civil War News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015.
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: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
References
- Bagley, Clinton I (11 December 1970). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form / USS Cairo". National Park Service. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
- "Accompanying Photos". National Park Service. Retrieved 2 January 2013. This article includes information from the National Park Service and is in the public domain.
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0684-6.
- Canney, Donald L. (1993). The Old Steam Navy. Vol. 2: The Ironclads, 1842–1885. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-586-8.
- "Cairo". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 20 December 2016. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Joyner, Elizabeth Hoxie (2006). The USS Cairo: History and Artifacts of a Civil War Gunboat. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-2257-9.
- Koehler, R. B. (2017). "Question 33/51: Engines of USS Cairo and Queen of the West". Warship International. LIV (4): 288. ISSN 0043-0374.
External links
External videos | |
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HAER Fly-through of Historic U.S.S. Cairo. Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, MS |
- Media related to USS Cairo (ship, 1861) at Wikimedia Commons
- USS Cairo Gunboat and Museum
- USS Cairo (DANFS photos)
- USS Cairo at Historic Naval Ships Association
- National Park Service site
- Drive On Documentary about James Eads building the City Class Ironclads
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. MS-7, "U.S.S. Cairo Ironclad, Vicksburg, Warren County, MS", 60 photos, 21 measured drawings, 4 photo caption pages