The USS Keokuk: An Ill-Fated Civil War Ironclad

The Civil War saw the first use of ironclad ships. Since the technology was in its early days, engineers experimented with different designs. One failed design was the USS Keokuk.

Launched in December 1862 from New York City, this 677-ton ship was almost 160 ft. long. She had two stationary, cylindrical gun towers, each pierced with three gun ports. Each turret only had one gun, however, that rotated within the turret. Her armor was also unusual, being made up of horizontal iron bars alternating with planks of oak wood and sheathed with a boiler iron sheet. The total thickness of this composite armor was only 5.75 in.

The USS Keokuk saw her first and last battle 150 years ago this week, when on April 7 she was part of a fleet attacking Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. This was the famous fort that the rebels took at the start of the war. Recapturing it would be a major propaganda victory for the North as well as allowing them to dominate the harbor.

The Confederates weren't about to let that happen. They opened up a brutal fusillade against the ships. The Keokuk was struck by about ninety projectiles, many of which hit at or below her waterline. Her experimental armor proved completely inadequate. One observer said she was "completely riddled". Though the Keokuk was able to withdraw, she sank on the next morning.

You can read a more detailed account of the battle at the Civil War Daily Gazette.

Photos courtesy U.S. Naval Center. Click on the link for more!

Today in history: The USS Essex defeats the CSS Arkansas

On this day 150 years ago the Confederate gunboat CSS Arkansas was defeated on the Mississippi by the USS Essex, two other Union gunboats, and her own bad luck. You can read about this exciting naval battle over at the Civil War Daily Gazette.

I've written about the USS Essex before. It features prominently in the sequel to my Civil War novel A Fine Likeness. The story takes place in late 1864, shortly after the events of that book, and follows the adventures of Allen Addison, the son of Captain Richard Addison, one of the protagonists in A Fine Likeness. This Library of Congress photo shows the USS Essex. I'm thinking of incorporating it into my cover.

Reading about the battle again has given me some ideas for my novel. . .

Civil War Photo Friday: The USS Essex

This is a photo of the USS Essex, a steam-powered Union gunboat that saw service on several Western rivers. She was built in 1856 as a ferry and was originally called New Era. The U.S. government bought it in September of 1861 and armored it with timber. As a timberclad she dueled Confederate gunboats and bombarded Fort Henry in Tennessee.

Later that year she was outfitted with iron plating and became an ironclad. This improvement served her well when she started pummeling the Confederate timberclads, prompting the Confederacy to make more ironclads for themselves. The Essex also took part in the bombardment of Vicksburg and the ill-fated Red River Campaign in Louisiana.

A few stats for you naval buffs: The Essex was 250 ft. long, 60 ft. wide, yet had a displacement of only 6 ft. This was the big advantage of these river gunboats--they could go into shallow tributaries and bombard enemy positions on the land. Her maximum speed was 5.5 knots and she had a displacement of 640 tons. Her armor was responsible for a lot of that weight, yet was only ¾ of an inch on the sides and 1 ¾ inches on the forward casemate. She had a crew of 124 and six cannons.

I’ve tinkered with the history of this vessel in the next novel of my House Divided Series. Instead of its real commander, Commander Andrew Bryson, in late 1864 it is commanded by Allen Addison, the son of Richard Addison, one of the protagonists in A Fine Likeness. Allen is Richard’s only surviving son, and is generally ignored by his father. He appears in some letters in A Fine Likeness, but never has a scene. In the as-yet-unnamed second book in the series, he becomes one of the main protagonists.

Being an historian, I’m not entirely comfortable changing history. In A Fine Likeness I was able to worm the plot through the cracks in history, filling in the gaps, as it were. Through the letters in A Fine Likeness it’s already established that Allen was serving aboard the Essex, so I wrote myself in a corner in that one. Since putting Addison in charge of the Essex would change history, I might have him get a promotion and get his own (fictional) gunboat by the time the second book starts. That way I can do whatever I want!

I do like the Essex, though, because for the purposes of the plot I need a powerful gunboat that has spare room to take a bunch of passengers. Besides, she’s a beauty!