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USS ''Saugus'' was a single-turreted built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The vessel was assigned to the James River Flotilla of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron upon completion in April 1864. The ship spent most of her time stationed up the James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against a sortie by the Confederate ironclads of the James River Squadron. She engaged Confederate artillery batteries during the year and later participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher, defending the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, in December 1864–January 1865. ''Saugus'' returned to the James River after the capture of Fort Fisher and remained there until Richmond, Virginia was occupied in early April. A few days later, the monitor was transferred to Washington, D. C. and used to temporarily incarcerate some of the suspected conspirators after the assassination of President Lincoln. She was decommissioned in June and recommissioned in early 1869 for service in the Caribbean and off the coast of Florida. ''Saugus'' was again recommissioned in late 1872 and generally remained active until late 1877. She was condemned in 1886 and sold for scrap in 1891. ==Description and construction== The ship was long overall, had a beam of and had a maximum draft of . ''Saugus'' had a tonnage of 1,034 tons burthen and displaced .〔Silverstone, p. 7〕 Her crew consisted of 100 officers and enlisted men.〔 ''Saugus'' was powered by a two-cylinder horizontal vibrating-lever steam engine〔 that drove one propeller using steam generated by two Stimers horizontal fire-tube boilers.〔Canney, p. 85〕 The engine gave the ship a top speed of . She carried of coal.〔Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 122〕 ''Saugus''s main armament consisted of two smoothbore, muzzle-loading, Dahlgren guns mounted in a single gun turret.〔 Each gun weighed approximately . They could fire a shell up to a range of at an elevation of +7°.〔Olmstead, et al, p. 94〕 The exposed sides of the hull were protected by five layers of wrought iron plates, backed by wood. The armor of the gun turret and the pilot house consisted of ten layers of one-inch plates. The ship's deck was protected by armor thick. A soft iron band was fitted around the base of the turret to prevent shells and fragments from jamming the turret as had happened to earlier monitors during the First Battle of Charleston Harbor in April 1863.〔 The base of the funnel (ship) was protected to a height of by of armor. A "rifle screen" of armor high was installed on the top of the turret to protect the crew against Confederate snipers based on a suggestion by Commander Tunis A. M. Craven, captain of her sister ship .〔West, pp. 15–16〕 The contract for ''Saugus'', the first Navy ship to be named ''Saugus'' after the town of Saugus, Massachusetts,〔''Saugus''〕 was awarded to Harlan & Hollingsworth; the ship was laid down in 1862〔 at their Wilmington, Delaware shipyard.〔Canney, p. 138〕 She was launched on 14 December 1863 and commissioned on 7 April 1864 with Commander Edmund R. Colhoun in command.〔 The ship's construction was delayed by multiple changes ordered while she was being built that reflected battle experience with earlier monitors. This included the rebuilding of the turrets and pilot houses to increase their armor thickness from to 10 inches and to replace the bolts that secured their armor plates together with rivets to prevent them from being knocked loose by the shock of impact from shells striking the turret. Other changes included deepening the hull by to increase the ship's buoyancy, moving the position of the turret to balance the ship's trim and replacing all of the ship's deck armor.〔Roberts, pp. 75–76, 80, 118–19〕 As far as is known the ship was not modified after her completion.〔Canney, p. 86〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Saugus (1863)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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