page_title: Casco-class monitor
section_title: More design changes
hierarchical_section_title: Casco-class monitor / History / More design changes
caption_attribution_description: English: Hand-colored construction drawing of shot lifter fittings for the light-draft monitor USS "Wassuc"'s gun turret. This drawing is stamped "Light Draught Monitors General Inspector Office. Sheet No. 79", is dated 20 February 1864 and signed by Alban C. Stimers, General Inspector. Note that this plan shows the turret outfitted with one XI-inch Dahlgren smoothbore gun (left gun) and one 150-pounder (8-inch) Parrott rifled gun. Original caption: “Photo # NH 94045-KN Plan of a shot lifter fpr USS Wassuc, 20 February 1864”
context_page_description: The Casco-class monitor was a unique class of light draft monitor built on behalf of the United States Navy for the Mississippi theatre during the American Civil War. The largest and most ambitious ironclad program of the war, the project was dogged by delays caused by bureaucratic meddling. Twenty ships of the class were eventually built at great expense, but proved so unseaworthy when trialed that they were quickly sidelined, causing a public scandal.
context_section_description: In February 1863 the monitor office offered contracts for twenty of the new Casco-class monitors, in spite of the fact that the original architect, Ericsson, had not approved the new design. Winning bidders included prominent firms like Reaney, Son & Archbold in Chester, Pennsylvania, Wilcox & Whitney at Camden, Harlan & Hollingsworth in Wilmington, Delaware and Merrick & Sons of Philadelphia (the latter of whom subcontracted much of the work to William Cramp & Sons). A number of smaller firms were also contracted. The cost was estimated at $395,000 per ship, or approximately $8 million in total. Some shipyards, such as Cramp, were forced to substantially upgrade their ironworking facilities for the production of the new vessels.
  By the end of 1863, frequent design changes were causing growing problems for the contractors. Stimers and his team of thirty draftsmen at the monitor office continued to submit changes even as the vessels were in the process of production, leading to long delays. One yard in Boston received a total of 83 drawings and 120 letters of explanation from Stimers, and the specification manual for the ships grew to 92 pages of small print. The final design called for a total of thirteen auxiliary engines and pumps per ship, fancy brasswork in place of cast iron, and a complex system of pipes for draining and filling the water tanks. The added weight to a ship designed with only a 15-inch (380 mm) freeboard at the outset raised questions about the ships' eventual seaworthiness.
caption: Detail drawing by Stimers for one of the Casco-class monitors
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