The Onondaga was a two-turret monitor ironclad, among the third generation commissioned by the Union -- which went on to order the worlds first three-turret monitor, the USS Roanoke, during the Civil War; the Roanoake, however, was a conversion of an existing wooden ship, while the Onondaga was new construction, all-iron, and a more satisfactory warship in every way. Onondaga was a large armored ship of the first class, packing 8 and 15 artillery, and of robust construction that stood the test of time. Designed by George W. Quintard, she was built at the Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, NY and commissioned on March 24, 1864. She cost the U.S. government more than $3M, but in the atmosphere of wartime emergency the contract was signed with little fuss. In making this buy the military acquired a formidable blockader and mobile battery, with reliable armor and engines, capable of providing artillery support to Union troops along the James River in the last two years of the war, and the final drive on Richmond. Inventor Jon Ericsson - statue at Stevens Institue, Hoboken, NJAt this time thre was a small war brewing within the Navy Department over whether to limit monitors to one turret or improve their firepower -- and fighting value should a turret be knocked out -- by giving them more than one turret. Infatuated with the idea of an all-round arc of fire, John Ericsson (left) dogmatically insisted that all monitors be constructed with only one turret. He even took a two-turret design (the Dictator/Puritan class) and recast it as a single-turret model when given the contract. But the War Department was eager to try any variation that might help to win the war. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles overrode the great inventors protests and ordered a number of twin-turret ships in 1862-3. Taken longitudinally, Onondagas design was somewhat symmetrical, with a layout dominated by the two turrets, similar to the Miantonomah class. Between the turrets sprouted the funnel, trunked with several ventilation tubes into a single plump unit. A few separate ventilator cowls and steam pipes erupted through the weather deck forward and amidships. Atop the forward turret sat a cylindrical pilothouse with a conical armored cap. On deck, huge anchor cranes at the bow, boats, and davits all were designed to go away when she was stripped for action. Each turret contained one 15 Dahlgren smoothbore and one 8 Parrot rifle. The ship was named for the Onondaga Nation of upstate New York -- part of the Iroquois Confederation. Like the Choctaw and other warships so named, she sought to derive fierce fighting spirit by invoking the name of a historic indigenous tribe.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:54:37 +0000
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