USS Neosho ( 1863 ) USS " Neosho " , the lead ship of her class , was an ironclad river monitor laid down for the Union Navy in the summer of 1862 during the American Civil War . After completion in mid - 1863 , the ship spent time patrolling the Mississippi River against Confederate raids and ambushes as part of Rear Admiral David Porter ' s Mississippi Squadron . She participated in the Red River Campaign in March – May 1864 . " Neosho " resumed her patrols on the Mississippi after the end of the campaign . She supported the Union Army ' s operations on the Cumberland River and provided fire support during the Battle of Nashville in December 1864 . " Neosho " was decommissioned after the war and remained in reserve until sold in 1873 . Design and description . The steam - powered gun turret of the " Neosho " was at the bow . She had a single deckhouse between the funnel and the sternwheel , although another was later added between the turret and the funnel . Her pilothouse was positioned above the rear deckhouse , next to the forward face of the sternwheel . The ship was long overall and had a beam of . When launched she proved to have a draft deeper than planned and she measured 523 tons burthen . " Neosho " had four steam boilers powering a two - cylinder , western steamboat - type engine that drove the sternwheel . The ship had a maximum speed of in service and she carried of coal . Her crew numbered 100 officers and enlisted men . After commissioning , the ship was modified with a small breakwater at her bow . " Neosho " s main armament consisted of two smoothbore Dahlgren gun s mounted in a single turret that had an arc of fire of 300° . Firing the guns tended to jam the turret until modifications were made to the guns ' recoil system . Each gun weighed approximately . They could fire a shell up to a range of at an elevation of 15° . The turret were protected by of wrought iron while the hull had of armor . The armor plates of the deck and paddle housing were thick . Service . " Neosho " , named after the Neosho River that flowed through Kansas and Oklahoma , and the first of her name , was laid down in mid - 1862 by James Eads at his Union Iron Works in Carondelet , Missouri . She was launched on 18 February 1863 and commissioned at Cairo , Illinois on 13 May 1863 , with Commander John C . Febiger in command , but was not completed until 1 July . She left Cairo on 14 July 1863 and reached Vicksburg on 6 August , just over a month after it had surrendered after a lengthy siege . " Neosho " and other warships patrolled the Mississippi and its tributaries to prevent Confederate raiders and flying batteries from ambushing Union supply ships . One example was on 8 December 1863 when " a Confederate shore battery attacked the disabled the merchant steamer " Henry Von Phul " ; " Neosho " and steamed up to defend the ship and silenced the battery . " From 12 March to 22 May 1864 , " Neosho " participated in the unsuccessful Red River Campaign under the command of Rear Admiral David Porter . During the retreat down the Red River , " Neosho " was trapped above the falls at Alexandria , Louisiana , along with most of the other ironclads of the Mississippi Squadron , when the river ' s water level unexpectedly began to fall . Two temporary dams , known as Bailey ' s Dam , had to be built in April – May to raise the water level high enough to allow the ironclads to proceed downstream . During the Franklin - Nashville Campaign in December 1864 " Neosho " , accompanied by the casemate ironclad , bombarded Confederate artillery batteries on the Cumberland River , near Bell ' s Mills , Tennessee , on 6 December . Despite being hit over 100 times , she was not seriously damaged . The monitor bombarded the Confederate right wing during the Battle of Nashville on 15 – 16 December . " Neosho " was decommissioned at Mound City , Illinois on 23 July 1865 and placed in reserve . She was renamed " Vixen " on 15 June 1869 and renamed again " Osceola " on 2 August 1869 . The ship was sold on 17 August 1873 for $ 13 , 600 .