NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



Cll 



Monitors, including the plating of the decks, be known as those of the second class ; three 



turrets, and pilothouses, was considerably of these, the Mahopac, Manhattan, and Tecum- 



dinted : but nothing like fracture of the seh, at Jersey City; two, the Catawba and 



armor or turrets occurred, and nothing ap- Tippecanoe, at Cincinnati : the Canonicus at 



preaching to penetration. In one or more in- Boston, and the Manayunk at Booneville, Ky. 



stances a shot ploughed its way, while glanc- These are to have each one turret, and carry 



ing. nearly or quite through the thinner plat- within this 2 15-inch guns. Thus, the weight 



ing of the deck. Nor was the propulsive ma- of their battery alone will (as in case of some 



chinery of any of these vessels damaged. The of the first-class Monitors also) be about 



only casualties within them occurred by the 50 tons, and they will discharge at once 900 



snapping oft', in the manner before referred to, Ibs. of iron a weight quite equal to that of 



of some of the bolt-heads inside the pilot- the whole broadside of an old-fashioned war 



house of the Xahant these not having been vessel. The armor of these vessels is to be 9 



covered, as they were in most of the Monitor 

 fleet, with sheet-iron guards : four of the offi- 

 cers and men of the Xahant were wounded by 

 these bolts, one of the men mortally. The 

 entire list of wounded upon the fleet was but 

 13. t: e remaining nine of these on theKeokuk; 

 and the only fatal wound was in the case al- 

 ready named. 



L'.'** "j the Original Monitor. The loss of 

 this now world-famous battery, which occur- 

 red off the coast of Xorth Carolina, Dec. 31, 

 1862. during a violent gale which commenced 

 on the previous day, although an accident 

 that appears to call for regret from national 

 considerations as well as for the painful sacri- 

 fice of life attending it, could not serve to over- 

 throw the conclusions already expressed in 

 respect to the sea-going qualities of the Moni- 

 tor batteries : and especially so, since the 10 

 new vessels of the sort, built under less ur- 

 gency in respect to time, were also constructed 

 expressly with more regard to fitness for nav- 

 igation and sea service. The Monitor was in 

 tow of the Rhode Island, and, the water which 

 entered the hold gaining so as to stop the 

 working of the engines, at about 1 30 P. M. of 

 the 31st. she went down. Four of her officers 

 and nine men, as well as eight men of the 

 Rhode Island, were lost. 



A y f :>.c Lift -raft, devised, or at least com- 

 pleted, since the sinking of the Monitor, has 

 been supplied to several of the new Monitors, 

 as well as. of course, to other vessels of the 

 navy. This raft consists of several water- 

 tight hollow air-filled, cylinders of canvas 

 coated with gutta percha. pointed at the ends. 

 and each of the cylinders having projecting 

 flanges furnished with eyelet holes, through 

 which the several cylinders are lashed to- 

 gether. Each cylinder is composed of 3 thick- 

 nesses of the canvas, its flanges, by doubling 

 and lapping of the edges, of four. For rowing, 

 three light boards or stretchers can be placed 

 above the whole. The very great buoyancy 

 of this raft was shown in trials in which every 

 available foot of room upon it was crowded 

 with sailors standing closely together : the raft 

 showed no sign of sinking under such a burden ; 

 and when but ordinarily loaded it can be rap- 

 idly propelled by oars or sails. 



The Second and Third C7a&i Monitors. In 

 January. 1863, there were building seven new 

 Monitor batteries of 1,034 tons burden, and to 



inches of plating, their turrets and pilothouses 

 11 inches thick, the increase in" weight being 

 allowed by the fact that they are to be of 18 

 inches deeper draught than the first-class Moni- 

 tors. Of the third-class Monitors, are the Tona- 

 wanda, building at Philadelphia, the Monad- 

 nock, at Boston, the Miantonomah at Brooklyn, 

 and the Agamenticus, at Portsmouth. These 

 are each to be of 1.564 tons burden, and to carry 

 4 guns. Their armor will also be very thick, 

 and the intention is to make them of unusual 

 strength. 



The Onondaga, built at Xew York, is of 1.250 

 tons burden, and carries 4 guns. This also, 

 known as the Quintard battery, is a modifica- 

 tion of the Ericsson pattern, having 2 turrets, 

 length 226 ft., breadth 48 ft., depth of hold 13 

 ft., and the construction of which is expected 

 to give unusual buoyancy. She has two screw- 

 propellers, for use in manoeuvring, as in turning 

 on her centre. &rc. 



The Dictator and Puritan. These are two 

 large batteries and rams, also of the Ericsson 

 pattern, the former building at Xew York, the 

 latter at Greenpoint. L. I. The former of them 

 is to be 320, the latter 341 feet in length, ar.d 

 each of 50 ft. beam. The vertical sides are to 

 be 6 ft. in depth, armored with plates and 

 wronght-iron slabs to a thickness together of 

 lOi inches, this being backed with 4 ft. thick- 

 ness of solid oak. The turrets, of which the 

 Dictator has one. the Puritan two. are to be 

 absolutely invulnerable to the 450-lb. shot of 

 15-inch guns, and for this purpose to be of 15 

 inches thickness, the outer 6 inches of plates, 

 then 5-inch slabs, and within these 4 inches of 

 plates. The propulsive power will also be un- 

 usually great ; each ship having two engines, 

 with cylinders of 100 inches diameter and 4 ft. 

 stroke. The modified Martin's boilers employ- 

 ed are to have 35,000 ft. of heating surface, 

 with 1.180 ft. of grate surface. The propellers 

 are Ericsson's. 21i ft. in diameter, and of 32 ft. 

 pitch. The guaranteed speed is 16 knots, or 

 near 19 miles an hour. The armament is to 

 consist of the most powerful wrought-iron guns 

 that can be made. The plates and armor string- 

 ers meeting at the bow will form an iron wedge 

 21 inches thick at the base, and terminating in 

 a nearly sharp edge : this wedge being sustained 

 by the entire length and depth of the armor of 

 p will constitute a ram of the utmost 

 possible strength. 



