The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-05
THREE OLD MONITORS.

Three old nonitorS-the CatSkill the
Manhattan and the Mahopac-are to be
stricken from the navy list and sold to
the highest bidder. All of these vessels
saw service in the Civil war. The Cats
kill is one of the six monitors ordered
March 16, 1862. just one week after the
battle between the Monitor and the Mer-
rimac in Hampton Roads The other yes
sells of the group were the PaSSaic, the
Montauk, the PatapSco the Lehigh and
the Sangamon. The Patapsco was sunk
by torpedo off Charleston in January,
1865. The others were laid by for time,
but We're prepared for coast defense du.
ties in the war with Spain.
The first monitor, which had such an
influence on the construction of ironclads.
was lost at sea Dec. 30, 1862. Five of
the monitors constructed under the order
of 1862 remain as pretty fair coast defense
vessels. OF the second group of monitors,
including the Comanche the Nahant. the
Nantucket and the Weehawken. all are
on the navy list except the last, which,
after defeating and capturing the At
lanta. a Confederate armor-clad of the
same type as the Merrimac, foundered in
the harbor of Charleston in December,
1868.
In July, 1862, two large monitors. each
of nearly five times the displacement of
the original monitor, were put under con-
tract. These were the Dictator and the
Puritan. Neither vessel was completed
in time to be of any service during the
Civil war, and the Puritan. as at first
projected, was never completed. Long
after the close of the war new and i'm
proved Puritan was built from the old
one. This is still in service.
a little later the government undertook
the construction of four large double
turret Observation-Disclosures AmDhi-
trite, Monadnock and Terror. The Mon
adnock steamed successfully from Phil
continent of South America, and the
Miami onomah across the Atlantic and
appeared at the various dock yards m
Europe. These vessels were practically
reconstructed, were given a modern arm
ament and armor, and were all. actively
employed in the war with Spain.
Another monitor. the Onondaga, was
constructed in the latter part of the war.
but was returned to the builder and ny
him sold to the French government. Five
small single-turret monitors Were con-
structed for work on the Mississippi riV-
err Nine Ericsson monitors, LITTLE
larger than the Passaic class, Were put
under contract late in 1862 OF these the
Winnebago. the, Tecumseh, the Chieka,,
saw. with the Manhattan. participated
in the battle of Mobile bay, where the
L ectinseh was sunk by q torpedo.
After 1864 other types of ironclads came
into use, but the United States and sew
eral other countries chung to the NOM
tor type for coast defense vessels. There
are now on the navy list the Puritan. d
double turret monitor, classed with our
battleships Monterey Miantonomah
A
ble-turret monitors. classed as second-
rate war vessels: Ajax. Canonicus, Ma
hopac. Manhattan Catsl1ll. Jason. Lee
high, Montauk. Nahant and Nantucket.
classed as third-rate war vessels. Now
the Catskill one of the first group OF
monitors and the Manhattan and the
Mahopac of the second group, are to be
sold
The old single-turret monitors had
displacement of ISIS tons. or about the
same displacement as the gunboats Con-
cord and Yorktown. The monitors of the
Manhattan group had displacement OF
2lG3 tons; the double-turret monitors Of
the Miantonomah class. q displacement
of about 1000 tons: the Puritan. dis
placement of 6.0G0 tons The new mon
itors under construction are to be about
the size, of the Miantonomah.
When Dewey was in Manila bav. after
the destruc ton of the Spanish fleet. he
had not a single ironclad to oppose the
German and other ironclads gathering
about him. 1t will be remembered that
he asked that the monitor Monterey be
sent him. and that he and other officers
of the navy felt greatly relieved when
the Monterey. after the voyage across
the Pacific. steamed into Manila harbor-
1t is nearly forty years since the hrst
monitor was constructed. In that forty
| years naval construction has made Won.
| derful progress. but no type of vessel
had greater influence as determining
| factor than the moriitor-Philadelph
Public Ledger.