602 



NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



three hundred and thirteen were steamers, at a cost 

 of $18,366,681.83, and of these there have been sold 

 three hundred and forty vessels, for which the Gov- 

 ernment has received $5,621,800.27. 



With the close of the war it became neces- 

 sary to take measures for laying up the iron- 

 clad vessels which were already afloat, and 

 those approaching completion. As fresh water 

 is indispensable for the preservation of this 

 class of vessels, and as none of the navy yards 

 possessed this requisite, the Secretary was in- 

 duced, in the absence of any Congressional ap- 

 propriation for a suitable dock yard or station 

 in fresh water, to select League Island, in the 

 Delaware River, which a committee, appointed 

 in 1862, in pursuance of an act of Congress, had 

 reported the most suitable location for a new 

 yard, "so far as iron vessels are concerned." 

 To this place were accordingly conveyed from 

 time to time during the year all the iron-clads 

 on the Atlantic coast not in commission. On the 

 Mississippi River, where there is as yet no pub- 

 lic navy yard, the station at Mound City lias 

 been retained, and the iron-clads belonging to 

 the Mississippi Squadron have there their head- 

 quarters. Several vessels of this class which 

 were built at St. Louis and attached to the 

 West Gulf Squadron, where they rendered 

 good service, particularly in the Bay of Mobile, 

 have been laid up at Algiers, opposite New Or- 

 leans. In view of the great advantages pos- 

 sessed by League Island, and the contracted 

 and altogether insufficient area of the Phila- 

 delphia navy yard, the Secretary of the Navy 

 has strongly urged the transfer of the latter to 

 the former place. On July 22, 1865, the iron- 

 clad ram Dunderberg, commenced three years 

 previous at the ship yard of W. H. Webb in 

 New York, was successfully launched. In size, 

 in strength, in offensive power by means of her 

 armament and ram, and in her almost com- 

 plete impregnability, she is perhaps the most 

 formidable vessel ever constructed; and, al- 

 though destined to be completed long after the 

 termination of the recent rebellion, she will 

 prove of inestimable value as an engine of 

 offence or defence in any future struggle. 

 While due care has been taken to render 

 the Dunderberg safe in a heavy sea-way, the 

 prime necessity of offering the utmost resist- 

 ance to the missiles of an enemy has not been 

 neglected. For this end the advantage of an 

 angular surface to receive the enemy's fire has 

 been combined with a great mass of timber and 

 the protective powers of four and one-half 

 inch solid armor plating. In her general ap- 

 pearance she resembles a huge fort embrasured 

 lor a score of the heaviest ordnance yet placed 

 upon the deck of any vessel, and her magnitude 

 and novel design are rendered pleasing to the 

 eye by her spars and outward fittings. The 

 hull contains several thousand feet of solid tim- 

 ber of the finest quality and choicest selection. 

 The bottom is flat, the sides angular, extremely 

 sharp, and surmounted by a casemate in which 

 ore to bo placed sixteen guns, although it is 



pierced for twenty-one. The hull is built in 

 layers of square logs, securely bolted together, 

 having no openings between them, and 13 

 caulked inside as well as outside. This massive 

 structure is strongly trussed with diagonal 

 braces of iron fastened inside of the solid frame, 

 securely strengthening her, and in such a man- 

 ner that it seems almost impossible that she 

 could be damaged by any ordinary disaster. 

 The hull is three hundred and eighty feet four 

 inches in extreme length, and seventy-two feet 

 ten inches extreme beam. The main hold is 

 twenty-two feet seven and a half inches in 

 depth. Her tonnage is set down by the naval 

 authorities in the register as five thousand and 

 ninety tons. The ram is a portion of the ship 

 itself, being literally the bow fashioned into a 

 huge beak. To form this ram the vessel is a 

 solid mass of timber from her stem backward 

 fifty feet, rendering it impossible for any shock 

 to break it off. It is arranged with a wrought- 

 iron jacket or front-piece to protect it, not only 

 from, shot but from abrasion in contact. The side 

 armor is of the best hammered iron plates, three 

 and a half inches in thickness, and screw- 

 bolted to the armor cushion by one and a half 

 inch bolts. The plates are placed vertically, 

 and not horizontally, as is the case Avith the 

 iron-clad vessels of Europe. The armor which 

 covers the casemate is four and a half inches in 

 thickness, and is also placed vertically on the 

 sloping sides. The top of the casemate will 

 have a light bomb-proof armor. The main 

 deck outside of the casemate will be covered 

 with thick armor, and will be secured to the 

 deck by three-quarter inch iron bolts with 

 counter-sunk heads. The armor will extend 

 out over the shelf which serves as a protection 

 to the screw and the two rudders. The case- 

 mate is constructed of square logs, each one 

 foot in thickness, built up to the height of 

 seven feet, and covered over with a bomb-proof 

 deck on which it was originally intended to 

 place two turrets, similar to those in use on 

 board of the monitors. The casemate will con- 

 tain twelve to fourteen eleven-inch Dahlgren, 

 and four fifteen-inch Rodman smooth-bore guns, 

 making it the heaviest armament of its number 

 ever placed on the deck of any vessel. 



The following table recapitulates the general 

 dimensions of this formidable vessel : 



Extreme length 830 feet 4 Inches. 



Extreme beam 72 u 10 



Depth of main hold 22 " 



Height of casemate 7 " 



Length of ram 60 " 



Draught when ready for sen. .... 21 " 



Displacement 7,000 tons. 



Tonnage 5,090 " 



Weight of Iron armor 1,000 u 



Dimensions of Engine*, Boilers, etc. 



Cylinders (two), each 100 inches. 



Stroke of pistons 45 " 



Boilers G main and 2 donkey. 



Depth of boilers 18 feet. 



Height of boilers 17 feet 6 lrbe. 



Front of boilers 21 " ' 



Wrisht of boilrrs 450 tons. 



Boiler surface 80,000 fc.-t. 



Grate surface 1,200 " 



