USS Chickasaw was an ironclad river monitor built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship participated in the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864, during which she was lightly damaged, and the bombardments of Forts Gaines and Morgan as Union troops besieged the fortifications defending the bay. In March–April 1865, Chickasaw again supported Union forces during the Mobile Campaign as they attacked Confederate fortifications defending the city of Mobile, Alabama.
She was placed in reserve after the end of the war and sold in 1874. Her new owners converted Chickasaw into a train ferry in 1881 and renamed her Gouldsboro. The ship was later converted into a barge and remained in use until she sank sometime during the 1950s. Her wreck was discovered in the Mississippi River in New Orleans in 2003, although there are no plans to raise her.
Description
Chickasaw was long overall and had a beam of . The ship had a depth of hold of and a draft of . She was 970 tons burthen and displaced . Her crew numbered 138 officers and enlisted men.
The ship was powered by two 2-cylinder horizontal non-condensing steam engines, each driving two propellers, using steam generated by seven tubular boilers. The engines were designed to reach a top speed of . Chickasaw carried of coal.
The ship's main armament consisted of four smoothbore, muzzle-loading 11-inch Dahlgren guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets. Unlike her sisters, both of her turrets were designed by John Ericsson. Each gun weighed approximately and could fire a shell up to a range of at an elevation of +15°.
The cylindrical turrets were protected by eight layers of wrought iron plates. The sides of the hull consisted of three layers of one-inch plates, backed by of pine. The deck was heavily cambered to allow headroom for the crew on such a shallow draft and it consisted of iron plates thick. The pilothouse, positioned behind and above the fore turret, was protected by of armor.
Construction and service
James Eads was awarded the contracts for all four of the Milwaukee-class ships. He subcontracted Chickasaw to Gaylord, Son and Co. of St. Louis, Missouri who laid down the ship in 1862. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after the Indian tribe, and was launched on 10 February 1864. Chickasaw was brought to Mound City, Illinois, on the Ohio River, on 8 May for fitting out and commissioned on 14 May 1864.
After commissioning, Chickasaw patrolled the Mississippi River against Confederate raids and ambushes for several months. She was transferred to Rear Admiral David Farragut's West Gulf Blockading Squadron on 9 July, together with her sister . The ship required some time to refit at New Orleans and prepare for the voyage to Mobile across the Gulf of Mexico, so the two sisters did not depart New Orleans until 29 July. On the voyage down the Mississippi to the Pass A Loutre, Chickasaw was forced to anchor overnight because of steering problems and the two ships did not cross the sandbar at the mouth of the pass until the evening of the following day. Once in the Gulf, Chickasaw was taken under tow by the sidewheel gunboat Tennessee for the voyage across the Gulf. The two ships were forced to stop at Ship Island so Chickasaws engines could be repaired. That required only a day and the sidewheel gunboat towed the monitor the rest of the way.
Farragut briefed Lieutenant Commander George H. Perkins, Chickasaws commander, on his ship's intended role in the battle. The larger, more heavily armed monitors and were to keep the ironclad ram away from the vulnerable wooden ships while they were passing Fort Morgan and then sink her. Chickasaw and Winnebago were to engage the fort until all of the wooden ships had passed. The four monitors would form the starboard column of ships, closest to Fort Morgan, with Chickasaw in the rear, while the wooden ships formed a separate column to port. The eastern side of the channel closest to Fort Morgan was free of obstacles, but "torpedoes", as mines were called at the time, were known to be present west of a prominent black buoy in the channel.