USS Mahopac (1864)

Mahopac at anchor on the Appomattox River, 1864
History
United States
NameUSS Mahopac
NamesakeLake Mahopac, New York
Ordered15 September 1862
BuilderSecor & Co., Jersey City, New Jersey
Cost$701,624
Laid down1862
Launched17 May 1864
Commissioned22 September 1864
DecommissionedJune 1865
Recommissioned15 January 1866
RenamedCastor, 15 June 1869
RenamedMahopac, 10 August 1869
Decommissioned11 March 1872
Recommissioned21 November 1873
Out of serviceIn ordinary 1889–1895
Stricken14 January 1902
FateSold, 25 March 1902
General characteristics
Class and typeCanonicus-class monitor
Displacement2,100 long tons (2,100 t)
Tons burthen1,034 tons (bm)
Length225 ft (68.6 m)
Beam43 ft 3 in (13.2 m)
Draft13 ft 6 in (4.1 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement100 officers and enlisted men
Armament2 × 15-inch (381 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns
Armor

USS Mahopac (1864) was a Canonicus-class monitor built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The vessel was assigned to the James River Flotilla of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron upon completion in September 1864. The ship spent most of her time stationed up the James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against sorties by the Confederate ironclads of the James River Squadron. She engaged Confederate artillery batteries during the year and later participated in both the first and second battles of Fort Fisher, defending the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, in December 1864 – January 1865. Mahopac returned to the James River after the capture of Fort Fisher and remained there until Richmond, Virginia was occupied in early April.

A few days later, the monitor was transferred to Washington, D. C. and decommissioned in June and recommissioned in early 1866 for service on the East Coast and in the Caribbean. Mahopac generally remained active until 1889 when she was permanently placed in reserve. She was sold for scrap in 1902.