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 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 guns 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 with construction overseen by Edward Hartt. 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 and 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. External links.