USS Baron DeKalb

Last updated

USS Baron DeKalb.jpg
USS Baron DeKalb
History
US flag 34 stars.svgUnited States
Orderedas St. Louis
Builder James B. Eads Yard, St. Louis, Missouri
Cost$89,000 USD
Laid downAugust 1861
LaunchedOctober 12, 1861 at Carondelet, Missouri
CommissionedJanuary 31, 1862
RenamedSeptember 8, 1862 as Baron DeKalb
StrickenJuly 13, 1863
IdentificationYellow band on stacks
FateSunk by mine, July 13, 1863
General characteristics
Class and typeCity-class river casemate ironclad
Displacement512 tons
Length175 ft (53 m)
Beam51 ft 2 in (15.60 m)
Draught6 ft (1.8 m)
Propulsion steam engine - Center Wheel, 2 horizontal HP engines (22" X 6"), 5 boilers
Speed9 mph (14 km/h)
Complement251 officers and enlisted
Armament(see section below)
Armour
  • 2.5 in (64 mm) on the casemates,
  • 1.25 in (32 mm) on the pilothouse

USS Baron DeKalb was a City-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the Union Navy by James B. Eads during the American Civil War.

Contents

USS Baron DeKalb, named after General Baron DeKalb of Hüttendorf near Erlangen, in present-day Bavaria, was originally named Saint Louis, and was one of seven City-class ironclads built at Carondelet, Missouri and Mound City, Illinois, for the Western Gunboat Flotilla. [1]

These ironclads were shallow draft with a center driven paddle wheel. They were partially armored and slow and very hard to steer in the currents of rivers. This ironclad was also vulnerable to plunging fire and also by hits in their un-armored areas. Called "Pook Turtles" for the designer, they did yeoman service through four years of war and were present at almost every battle on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Built in St. Louis, Missouri in 1861

Originally built as St. Louis, the stern wheel casemate gunboat was built by James B. Eads, at the Union Marine Works at Carondelet, Missouri, for the U.S. War Department. She was launched in St. Louis, Missouri, October 12, 1861 and joined the Western Gunboat Flotilla.

Civil War service

Assigned to Union Army operations

During 1862 St. Louis, under the command of Lieutenant L. Paulding USN, was attached to Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote's squadron and participated in the Battle of Lucas Bend and the capture of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River (February 6, 1862). She served as flagship for the squadron when it assisted the Union Army at the capture of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River (February 14–16, 1862). Between April and June 1862, she operated against Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

St. Louis was renamed Baron De Kalb for the Revolutionary War general Johann de Kalb on September 8, 1862. This change was apparently in anticipation of the vessel's transfer from the War Department to the Navy Department, there already being a St. Louis in commission with the Navy.

Reassigned to the Union Navy

On October 1, 1862 Baron De Kalb was transferred to the Navy Department. During December 21–28 she took part in the Yazoo Expedition and participated in the action at Drumgould's Bluff (December 28). Four of Baron De Kalb's sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in the expedition: Ordinary Seaman Peter Cotton, Captain of the Forecastle Pierre Leon, Boatswain's Mate John McDonald, and Boatswain's Mate Charles Robinson. [2] [3]

During 1863 Baron De Kalb took part in the capture of Arkansas Post (January 10–11); expedition up the White River (January 12–14); Yazoo Pass Expedition (February 20 – April 5); action at Fort Pemberton (March 11–13); action at Haines' Bluff (April 29–2 May, May 18); action at Yazoo City, Mississippi (20–23 May); and the Yazoo River Expedition (24–31 May).

Sunk by mine

On July 13, 1863 Baron De Kalb was sunk by a mine (then called a "torpedo") in the Yazoo River, one mile below Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Chronology

Armament

32-pounder (6.5-inch) Dahlgren naval guns Claremont NH 32-pdr naval guns.jpg
32-pounder (6.5-inch) Dahlgren naval guns

Like many of the Mississippi theater ironclads, Baron Dekalb had its armament changed multiple times over life of the vessel. To expedite the entrance of Baron DeKalb into service, she and the other City-class ships were fitted with whatever weapons were available; then had their weapons upgraded as new pieces became available. Though the 8 in (200 mm) Dahlgren smoothbore cannons were fairly modern most of the other original armaments were antiquated; such as the 32-pounders, or modified; such as the 42-pounder "rifles" which were in fact, old smoothbores that had been gouged out to give them rifling. These 42-pounder weapons were of particular concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker and more prone to exploding than purpose-built rifled cannons. Additionally, the close confines of riverine combat greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat. [4]

Ordnance characteristics
January 1862October 1862December 1862Early 1863
• 3 × 8-inch smoothbores
• 4 × 42-pounder rifles
• 6 × 32-pounder rifles
• 1 × 12-pounder rifle
• 3 × 8-inch smoothbores
• 2 × 42-pounder rifles
• 6 × 32-pounder rifles
• 2 × 30-pounder rifles
• 1 × 12-pounder rifle
• 2 × 10-inch smoothbores
• 3 × 8-inch smoothbores
• 2 × 42-pounder rifles
• 6 × 32-pounder rifles
• 2 × 30-pounder rifles
• 1 × 12-pounder rifle
• 1 × 10-inch smoothbore
• 2 × 9-inch smoothbores
• 2 × 8-inch smoothbores
• 6 × 32-pounder rifles
• 2 × 30-pounder rifles
• 1 × 12-pounder rifle

See also

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Chillicothe</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Chillicothe was an ironclad river gunboat of the United States Navy. She was named for the capital of Ohio from 1803 to 1810.

USS <i>Tyler</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Tyler was originally a merchant ship named A. O. Tyler, a commercial side-wheel steamboat with twin stacks and covered paddles positioned aft. Constructed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1857, it was acquired by the United States Navy, 5 June 1861 for service in the American Civil War and converted into the gunboat USS Tyler on 5 June 1861. She was commissioned in September 1861. She was protected with thick wooden bulwarks.

USS <i>Carondelet</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Carondelet (1861) was a City-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the War Department by James B. Eads during the American Civil War. It was named for the town where it was built, Carondelet, Missouri.

USS <i>Queen of the West</i> Sidewheel steamer ram ship

The USS Queen of the West was a sidewheel steamer ram ship and the flagship of the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade. It was built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854. It served as a commercial steamer until purchased by Colonel Charles Ellet Jr. in 1862 and converted for use as a ram ship. The ship operated in conjunction with the Mississippi River Squadron during the Union brown-water navy battle against the Confederate River Defense Fleet for control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries during the American Civil War.

USS <i>Cairo</i> American Civil War ironclad warship

USS Cairo is the lead ship of the City-class casemate ironclads built at the beginning of the American Civil War to serve as river gunboats.

USS <i>Benton</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Benton was an ironclad river gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for American senator Thomas Hart Benton. Benton was a former center-wheel catamaran snagboat and was converted by James B. Eads, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1861 and commissioned February 24, 1862 as part of the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla.

USS <i>Louisville</i> (1861) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Louisville was a City-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the U.S. Army by James B. Eads during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Ram Fleet</span> Union Army ram ship unit

The United States Ram Fleet was a Union Army unit of steam powered ram ships during the American Civil War. The unit was independent of the Union Army and Navy and reported directly to the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. The ram fleet operated in coordination with the Mississippi River Squadron during the Union brown-water navy battle against the Confederate River Defense Fleet for control of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

USS <i>Marmora</i> (1862) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Marmora was a sternwheel steamer that served in the Union Navy from 1862 to 1865, during the American Civil War. Built in 1862 at Monongahela, Pennsylvania, as a civilian vessel, she was purchased for military service on September 17 and converted into a tinclad warship. Commissioned on October 21, the vessel served on the Yazoo River beginning the next month. She encountered Confederate naval mines on the Yazoo on December 11, and was present the next day when the ironclad USS Cairo was sunk by two mines. After further service on the Yazoo during the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou in late December, Marmora was assigned in January 1863 to a fleet that was preparing to operate against Confederate Fort Hindman, but was not present when the fort surrendered on January 11.

USS <i>Monarch</i>

USS Monarch was a United States Army sidewheel ram that saw service in the American Civil War as part of the United States Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade. She operated on the Mississippi River and Yazoo River during 1862 and 1863.

USS <i>Cincinnati</i> (1861) Gunboat of the United States Navy

The City-class ironclad USS Cincinnati was a stern-wheel casemate gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for Cincinnati, Ohio, and was the first ship to bear that name in the United States Navy.

USS <i>General Bragg</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS General Bragg was a heavy (1,043-ton) steamer captured by Union Navy forces during the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a U.S. Navy gunboat and was assigned to enforce the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.

USS <i>Mound City</i> Civil War gunboat

USS Mound City was a City-class ironclad gunboat built for service on the Mississippi River and its tributaries in the American Civil War. Originally commissioned as part of the Union Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla, she remained in that service until October 1862. Then the flotilla was transferred to the Navy and she became part of the Mississippi River Squadron, where she remained until the end of the war.

USS <i>Linden</i> Union Navy (US) sidewheel steamship

USS Linden was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.

USS Alonzo Child was a side-wheel steamer seized by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a barracks ship in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

USS <i>New Era</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS New Era was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways. New Era was also a name initially carried by a timbercladUSS Essex.

USS <i>Sumter</i> (1862) 525-ton sidewheel paddle streamer

USS Sumter was a 525-ton sidewheel paddle steamer captured by the Union Navy during the Union blockade of the American Civil War.

City-class ironclad Mississippi River gunboat of the Americans civil war

The Pook Turtles, or City-class gunboats to use their semi-official name, were war vessels intended for service on the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. They were also sometimes referred to as "Eads gunboats." The labels are applied to seven vessels of uniform design built from the keel up in Carondelet, Missouri shipyards owned by James Buchanan Eads. Eads was a wealthy St. Louis industrialist who risked his fortune in support of the Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yazoo Pass expedition</span> 1863 battle of the American Civil War

The Yazoo Pass expedition was a joint operation of Major General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee and Rear Admiral David D. Porter's Mississippi River Squadron in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. Grant's objective was to get his troops into a flanking position against the Rebel defenders. The expedition was an effort to bypass the Confederate defenses on the bluffs near the city by using the backwaters of the Mississippi Delta as a route from the Mississippi River to the Yazoo River. Once on the Yazoo, the Army would be able to cross the river unopposed and thus achieve their goal. The operation would require a deep penetration into enemy territory that was dominated by water, so cooperation between the two services was necessary. The Army was led by Brigadier General Leonard F. Ross. Naval commander was Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith, whose extremely poor health was an important factor in the ultimate failure of the expedition.

USS Romeo was a sternwheel steamer that saw service as a tinclad warship during the American Civil War. Completed in August 1862 for civilian trade on the Wabash River, she was instead purchased by the Union Navy for military service in October. Commissioned in December, she cleared naval mines on the Yazoo River later that month before participating in the operations against Confederate-held Fort Hindman in January 1863. After the fall of Fort Hindman, Romeo was part of an expedition up the White River. In February and March 1863, she was part of the Yazoo Pass Expedition, and she fought with Confederates at river landings later in the year to help isolate Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign.

References

  1. The Western Gunboat Flotilla was a unique "joint service" organization. The gunboats were built using funds from the War Department, were manned by Navy personnel, and were under the ultimate command of the U.S. Army theater commander.
  2. "Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients (A–L)". Medal of Honor Citations. United States Army Center of Military History. June 26, 2011. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  3. "Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients (M–Z)". Medal of Honor Citations. United States Army Center of Military History. June 26, 2011. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  4. Angus Konstam, (2002), Union River Ironclad 1861-65, Osprey Publishing, New Vanguard 56, ISBN   978-1-84176-444-3

32°49′24″N90°27′17″W / 32.823470°N 90.454706°W / 32.823470; -90.454706