16 March 2014
New Ironsides
A photograph of USS New Ironsides, a masted steamer frigate, built in Philadelphia in 1862 by Merrick & Sons. Their foundry was at Fifth Street and Washington Avenue. This was the first seagoing ironclad in the US Navy, and though it was a year or so behind Britain's HMS Warrior (video), it can be regarded as predecessor to US battleships of the recent 20th century era and perhaps of the modern day missile frigates, it being, after all, itself a frigate.
According to the nicely illustrated Ships of the Civil War, 1861-1865 by Kevin Dougherty, the short-lived New Ironsides saw its share of action, which included suffering damage from a spar torpedo attack at Charleston. A spar torpedo can be thought of as a bomb on a stick.
New Ironsides came back to the city for refit, saw more action at Hampton Roads, was decommishioned in 1865 here in Philadelphia then was destroyed by a fire in 1866.
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Keep it clean and on-topic please.