USS Montauk (1862)

Philadelphia Navy Yard , circa 1902.
History
United States
Name	USS Montauk
Namesake	Montauk, New York
Builder	Continental Iron Works (Greenpoint, NY)
Launched	October 9, 1862
Commissioned	December 14, 1862
Decommissioned	March 1899
Fate	Sold, April 14, 1904
General characteristics
Class and type	Passaic-class monitor
Displacement	750 long tons (760 t)
Length	200 ft (61 m) o/a
Beam	46 ft (14 m)
Draft	10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Installed power	320 ihp (240 kW)
Propulsion	1 × Ericsson vibrating lever engine 2 × Martin boilers 1 × shaft
Speed	7 kn (8.1 mph; 13 km/h)
Complement	75 officers and enlisted
Armament	1 × 15 in (380 mm) smoothbore, 1 × 11 in (280 mm) smoothbore
Armor	Side: 3–5 in (7.6–12.7 cm) Turret: 11 in (28 cm) Pilothouse : 8 in (20 cm) Deck: 1 in (2.5 cm)
Notes	Armor is iron.

The first USS Montauk was a single-turreted Passaic-class monitor in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

It saw action throughout the war. It was used as the floating prison for the conspirators in the

Montauk was built by John Ericsson at Continental Iron Works, Greenpoint, Brooklyn; launched on October 9, 1862; and commissioned at New York on December 14, 1862, Commander John L. Worden in command.

Service

A principal

Montauk steamed into the North Fork of the Edisto River on April 1 in preparation for the attack on Charleston. At midafternoon on April 7, Admiral Du Pont's ironclads attacked Fort Sumter. The Union ships braved intense fire from Confederates coastal artillery, and kept their own guns operating effectively until withdrawing toward evening. Damage to the monitors prevented Du Pont from resuming the attack the next day with Montauk taking 20 hits.^[1]

The ironclads launched an attack on Fort Wagner, Morris Island on July 10. Capturing this island was important as it would permit access to the interior defenses of Charleston Harbor. Assuming command of the naval forces, John Dahlgren boarded Montauk on July 16 and after consultation with the captains, renewed the attack on Fort Wagner and bombarded it daily until it was evacuated by the Confederates on September 6. The ships then turned their attention to Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie operating for the rest of the year against these fortifications which guarded the Cradle of the Rebellion. However, the Confederate works would never be taken by sea.

Montauk remained off Charleston until July 1864, when she shifted operations to the Stono River. In February 1865, she transferred to the Cape Fear River. Proceeding to the Washington Navy Yard after the end of the conflict, she served as a floating bier for assassin John Wilkes Booth on April 27 and a floating prison for six accomplices.

She was decommissioned at

Bibliography

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Additional technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 120.
  ISBN 0-85177-133-5
  .
• Joshua F. Moore (May 2006). "what's in a picture?". Down East: 136.
• Wright, Christopher C. (June 2021). "Canonicus at Jamestown, 1907". Warship International. LVIII (2): 126–162.
  ISSN 0043-0374
  .

• navsource.org: USS Montauk
• hazegray.org: USS Montauk
• Photograph of the U.S.S. Montauk from the Maine Memory Network