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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Dictator |
| Builder | Delamater Iron Works, New York |
| Laid down | 16 August 1862 |
| Launched | 26 December 1863 |
| Commissioned | 11 November 1864 |
| Decommissioned | 1 June 1877 |
| Stricken | 5 September 1865 |
| Reinstated | 20 July 1869 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 27 September 1883 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Monitor |
| Displacement | 4,438 long tons (4,509 t) |
| Length | 312 ft (95.1 m) |
| Beam | 50 ft (15.2 m) |
| Draft | 20 ft 6 in (6.2 m) |
| Installed power | 3,500 ihp (2,600 kW) |
| Propulsion | 2 screws; vibrating-lever steam engine |
| Speed | 10 knots (18.5 km/h; 11.5 mph) |
| Complement | 174 officers and enlisted men |
| Armament | 2 × 15 in (381 mm) Dahlgren smoothbores |
| Armor |
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USS Dictator was a single-turreted ironclad monitor, designed for speed, and to sail on the open sea. Originally to be named Protector, the Navy Department preferred a more aggressive name, and she was renamed Dictator. Despite her being designed for speed, design problems limited her to a maximum of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She served in two different periods; from 1864 to 1865, serving with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and from 1869 to 1877, with the North Atlantic Fleet. After her final decommissioning in 1877, she was sold for scrap in 1883.