USS Milwaukee (1864)
Milwaukee with a mine rake attached to her bow
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS Milwaukee |
Namesake | Milwaukee |
Laid down | 1864 |
Launched | 4 February 1864 |
Commissioned | 27 August 1864 |
Fate | Sunk by a mine, 28 March 1865, raised and scrapped 1868 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Milwaukee-class monitor |
Displacement | 1,300 long tons (1,300 t) |
Tons burthen | 970 bm |
Length | 229 ft (69.8 m) |
Beam | 56 ft (17.1 m) |
Draft | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
Installed power | 7 × Tubular boilers |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
Complement | 138 |
Armament | 2 × twin 11-inch (279 mm) Smoothbore Dahlgren guns |
Armor |
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The first USS Milwaukee, a double-turreted
Description
Milwaukee was 229 feet (69.8 m)
The ship was powered by two 2-cylinder horizontal
The ship's main armament consisted of four
The cylindrical turrets were protected by eight layers of
Construction and service
James Eads was awarded the contracts for all four of the Milwaukee-class ships. He
Milwaukee was initially assigned to the
Although the victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864 had closed the port of Mobile to blockade runners, the city itself had not been taken. The Confederates fortified the approaches to the city and heavily mined the shallow waters surrounding it. On 27 March 1865, Milwaukee, together with several other Union ships, sortied upriver in an attempt to cut communications between Spanish Fort and Mobile.[6] The following day she and her sister ship Winnebago steamed up the Blakely River to attack a Confederate transport and forced it to retreat. While returning downriver Milwaukee struck a mine in an area previously swept. She remained afloat forward, which permitted her crew to escape without loss. Another of her sisters, Kickapoo, rescued the survivors.[8]
In 1868 the wreck was raised and towed to St. Louis and broken up; her iron was used in the construction of the Eads Bridge across the Mississippi River.[6]
Notes
References
- Canney, Donald L. (1993). The Old Steam Navy. Vol. 2: The Ironclads, 1842–1885. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-586-8.
- 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.
- "Milwaukee". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 29 May 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.
- United States, Naval War Records Office (1914). Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Series I. Vol. 21: West Gulf Blockading Squadron (January 1, 1864 – December 31, 1864). Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
- United States, Naval War Records Office (1908). Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Series I. Vol. 22: West Gulf Blockading Squadron (January 1, 1865 – January 31, 1866), Naval Forces on Western Waters (May 8, 1861 – April 11, 1862). Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
External links
- Photo gallery at Naval Historical Center