New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-13

Housatonic. sunk off Charleston by David,
a very primitive submarine, for submarine
warfare was carried on after fashion on
that port.
"Double-Endcrs"
Among the many ingenious inventions OF
Civil War days were the so-called double
enders," class Of vessels built with DO"
and stern alike and with a rudder at each
end. These vessels were paddle steamers.
and their design enabled them with great
readiness to go up and down the crooked es-
tuaries and rivers of the Southern coasts
without turning. This facility of maneuvrlng
Cit was. of course, copied from the we'll
known ferryboats) was frequently invaluable.
The double-enders were built in very consia-
cradle numbers, and of various dimensions
the largest being of 1850 tons. or these last
the Monocacy represented the United States
on the rivers of China for q period OF time
hardly to be measured by human life. Beauty
they did not have, any more than did the OLD
Powhatan. and some Of them were very badly
handled in various fights, but their utility
was very great.
All these and many other vessels were OF
wood, and goodly number, particularly the
so-called "ninety-day gunboats" $50 named
because of the speed with which they were
built were Of green timber, which deteriorat-
ed so fast that the gunboats hardly lasted out
the war. =
The Monitor
The most interesting Of all the develop
ments during the Civil War was unquestion-
ably the Monitor type of ironclad. 1t is idle
al ri
son in devising a turret as a casemste for
gun on shipboard. The fact remains that the
first practical application Of a turret ship
was Ericssons Monitor, and her efficiency was
shown in a most substantial manner on March
8, 1852, in Hampton Roads. The threatened
ruin of the Northern feet Of wooden ships was
put an end to by the outcome of the engage
ment between the Union Monitor and the
Confederate Merrimac. 1t will ever be famous
as the first engagement between ironclads,
even if it did not result in the destruction Of
either ship. Both ships were practically in
vulnerable, and to this day there are but
few cases on record where the turret OF q
ship was pierced by an enemy's shot. Little
did Ericsson or any naval officer realize that
in time only turrets would be used on war
ships to protect the heavy guns Many mill
ions were wasted by European nations on
broadside, seagong ironclads before the tur-
ret system impressed itself on naval con-
structors as the only one worth considering.
No ships were ever subjected to harder
or more continuous fire than our Monitor
feet off Charleston. 1t is true that many an
officer condemned the monitors, and they GER
tainly had many defects. But these defects
never led to their destruction. Their low
freeboard made them most uncomfortable in
o seaway; their ventilation was imperfect
electrically driven fans were unknown in
those days; they steered badly; their guns
could be worked only very slowly, a defect
due, however, mainly to the fact that the
guns were muzzle-loaders; they were not
very fast. All this is quite true, and yet
only the original Monitor was lost at sea,
and the Weehawken sank in fairly smooth
water on a clear day off Charleston through
mismanagement on board. The double -tur-
reted Miantonomoh in 1866 steamed to Europe
and back the Monadnock steamed to San
Francisco that same year, while third dou-
ble-turreted monitor, the Onondaga, was sold
to France in 1866, and went across the Allan
tic without any difficulty.
Exaggerated Expectations
II the criticisms were not wholly justified,
so too the possibilities which some officers
expected from the monitors went too far the
other way at times. 1t must be remembered
that a single-turreted monitor was a very
small ship, the Passaic and Nantucket, for
example, being of 1875 tons; the largest ones,
like the Manhattan, Of 2,100 tons displace-
ment. But great many were built, and all
those of the Ericsson model were successful.
CT course, am speaking only Of the sea going
not the river monitors. Only few Of the
Gouble-turreted monitors saw much service.
as they came too late in the war to be Of
much use. One class of light draft monitors
was complete failure: they would not even
float. Another montor-the Keokuk-built
with low freeboard tumble home sides, and
two truncated cone-shaped towers leach hold
ing one &l-inch gum was smashed to pieces
and sunk in her first action off Charleston.
The Navy built one broadside ironclad, the
New lronsides, which carried a main battery
OF sixteen &l-inch guns, with some heavy
pivot rifles on her spar deck. Her ribs were
of wood, and her ends were unarmored; her
stern, however, was designed on lines still
followed, the object being TO protect the rud-
der, which was entirely under water This
ships armored sides were considerably in
c!lned, while to her stem was attached cast
iron ram-as useless as were her tall spars.
These latter were very promptly removed
This ship was immensely useful, as her ire
mendously powerful battery enabled her 10
completely crush the fire of any guns on shore
which she could reach. But she drew so
much that she could not get near enough to
the enemy to be useful on many occasions,
she steered badly and she was slow Nothing
like her was ever attempted again by our
Navy but her armor was never pierced By
shot, and she was hit times without number
and she even survived explosion of torpedo
against her hull! She ended her career by
being destroyed by fire at the League Island
Yard in 1856
One more ironclau, so called, must Be
referred TO, the Galena. She had thin layer
of armor in strips along her gun deck, too
thin to be of much use, and she, in conse-
quence. was a complete failure. In the glo-
L111.. ~.