USS Merrimack (1855)
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (October 2020) |
USS Merrimack; Engraving by L.H. Bradford & Co., after a drawing by G.G. Pook
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Merrimack |
Ordered | 6 April 1854 |
Launched | 15 June 1855 |
Commissioned | 20 February 1856 |
Decommissioned | 16 February 1860 |
Fate |
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General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 3,200 |
Length | 275 ft (84 m) |
Beam | 38.5 ft (11.7 m) |
Draft | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
Propulsion | sail, steam engine |
Speed | 12 knots |
Armament |
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USS Merrimack, also improperly Merrimac, was a steam frigate, best known as the hull upon which the ironclad warship CSS Virginia was constructed during the American Civil War. The CSS Virginia then took part in the Battle of Hampton Roads (also known as "the Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack") in the first engagement between ironclad warships.
Merrimack was the first of six screw frigates (steam frigates powered by screw propellers) begun in 1854. Like others of her class (Wabash, Roanoke, Niagara, Minnesota and Colorado), she was named after a river. The Merrimack originates in New Hampshire and flows through the town of Merrimac, Massachusetts, often considered an older spelling which has sometimes caused confusion of the name.[1]
History
Creation
Merrimack was launched by the Boston Navy Yard 15 June 1855, sponsored by Mary E. Simmons, and commissioned 20 February 1856, Captain Garrett J. Pendergrast in command. She was the second ship of the Navy to be named for the Merrimack River.
Service
Merrimack was still
The
See also
- List of steam frigates of the United States Navy
- Union Navy
- Ships captured in the American Civil War
- Bibliography of American Civil War naval history
Footnotes
- ^ Nelson, J. The Reign of Iron. 2004.
- ISBN 978-1-84603-232-5. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ "BURNING OF GOSPORT NAVY-YARD; Eleven Vessels Scuttled and Burned, The Steam Tug Yankee Tows the Cumberland to Sea, Norfolk Not on Fire". The New York Times. New York City. 24 April 1861. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
The Government vessels had been scuttled in the afternoon before the Pawnee arrived, to prevent their being seized by the Secessionists… The following are the names of the vessels which were destroyed: Pennsylvania, 74 gun-ship; steam-frigate Merrimac, 44 guns; sloop-of-war Germantown, 22 guns; sloop Plymouth, 22 guns; frigate Raritan, 45 guns; frigate Columbia, 44 guns; Delaware, 74 gun-ship; Columbus, 74 gun-ship; United States, in ordinary; brig Dolphin, 8 guns; and the powder-boat… [plus] line-of-battle ship New-York, on the stocks… Large quantities of provisions, cordage and machinery were also destroyed — besides buildings of great value — but it is not positively known that the [dry] dock was blown up.
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
Bibliography
- Canney, Donald L. (1990). The Old Steam Navy: Frigates, Slops and Gunboats, 1815–1882. Vol. 1. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-004-1.
- Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- "Merrimack". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History & Heritage Command(NH&HC). Retrieved 1 February 2013.
- Olmstead, Edwin; Stark, Wayne E.; Tucker, Spencer C. (1997). The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon. Alexandria Bay, New York: Museum Restoration Service. ISBN 0-88855-012-X.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). Civil War Navies 1855–1883. The U.S. Navy Warship Series. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-97870-X.
- Nelson, James L. 2004. The Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack. HarperCollins Publishers, NY. ISBN 0-06-052403-0.
External links
- history.navy.mil/photos: USS Merrimack
- Journal of a Cruise onboard U.S. Steam Frigate Merrimack, 1856–1858, MS 15 held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy