&sq=&lang=&file=File:Uss_Saugus_1865.jpg) Saugus with a minesweeping rake
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Saugus |
| Namesake | Saugus, Massachusetts |
| Awarded | 1862 |
| Builder | Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Delaware |
| Laid down | 1862 |
| Launched | 16 December 1863 |
| Commissioned | 7 April 1864 |
| Decommissioned | 13 June 1865 |
| Recommissioned | 30 April 1869 |
| Renamed | USS Centaur 15 June 1869 |
| Renamed | USS Saugus 10 August 1869 |
| Decommissioned | 31 December 1870 |
| Recommissioned | 9 November 1872 |
| Decommissioned | 9 March 1874 |
| Recommissioned | 10 October 1874 |
| Decommissioned | 8 October 1877 |
| Fate | Sold, 15 May 1891 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Canonicus-class monitor |
| Displacement | 2,100 long tons (2,100 t) |
| Length | 223 ft (68.0 m) |
| Beam | 43 ft 4 in (13.2 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft 6 in (4.1 m) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) |
| Complement | 100 officers and enlisted men |
| Armament | 2 × 15-inch (381 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns |
| Armor |
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USS Saugus was a single-turreted 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 April 1864. The ship spent most of her time stationed up the James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against a sortie by the Confederate ironclads of the James River Squadron. She engaged Confederate artillery batteries during the year and later participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher, defending the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, in December 1864 – January 1865. Saugus 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 used to temporarily incarcerate some of the suspected conspirators after the assassination of President Lincoln. She was decommissioned in June and recommissioned in early 1869 for service in the Caribbean and off the coast of Florida. Saugus was again recommissioned in late 1872 and generally remained active until late 1877. She was condemned in 1886 and sold for scrap in 1891.