USS New Ironsides

USS New Ironsides under steam and sail
History
United States
NameNew Ironsides
NamesakeUSS Constitution
Ordered15 October 1861
BuilderWilliam Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Cost$780,000
Yard number108
Launched10 May 1862
Sponsored byCommodore Charles Stewart
Commissioned21 August 1862
Decommissioned6 April 1865
FateDestroyed by fire, 16 December 1865
General characteristics
TypeBroadside ironclad[1]
Displacement4,120 long tons (4,190 t)
Length230 ft (70.1 m) (p.p.)
Beam57 ft 6 in (17.5 m)
Draft15 ft 8 in (4.8 m)
Installed power
Propulsion1 × shaft; 2 × direct-acting steam engines
Speed7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph)
Complement449 officers and enlisted
Armament
Armor

USS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship spent most of her career blockading the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1863–65. New Ironsides bombarded the fortifications defending Charleston in 1863 during the First and Second Battles of Charleston Harbor. At the end of 1864 and the beginning of 1865 she bombarded the defenses of Wilmington in the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher.

Although she was struck many times by Confederate shells, gunfire never significantly damaged the ship or injured the crew.[2] Her only casualty in combat occurred when she was struck by a spar torpedo carried by the CSS David. Eight crewmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865. The ship was destroyed by fire in 1865 after she was placed in reserve.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference g1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Roberts 1999, p. 108