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USRC ''Naugatuck'' was a twin-screw
ironclad An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...
experimental steamer operated by the
United States Revenue-Marine The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by an Act of Congress () on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine at the recommendation of the nation's first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. The federal government body ...
during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. She served the
United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...
initially as USRC ''E. A. Stevens'' before being renamed ''Naugatuck'', a name she retained until sold in 1890. The Treasury Department loaned her to the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
and thus she was mistakenly referred to in U.S. Navy dispatches during early 1862 as "USS ''Naugatuck''".Thiesen, pp. 141–54


An experimental ironclad design

In 1841,
Robert L. Stevens Colonel Robert Livingston Stevens (October 18, 1787 – April 20, 1856) was an American inventor and steamship builder who served as president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad in the 1830s and 1840s. Early life Stevens was born in Hoboken, Ne ...
and
Edwin Augustus Stevens Edwin Augustus Stevens (July 28, 1795 – August 7, 1868) was an American engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur who left a bequest that was used to establish the Stevens Institute of Technology. Life Stevens was born at Castle Point, Hobo ...
— the sons of Colonel John Stevens of
Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...
— proposed to the Navy Department the construction of an
ironclad An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...
vessel of high speed, with screw propellers and all machinery below the waterline. This proposal was accepted and an
Act of Congress An act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...
— approved on 14 April 1842 — authorized the
Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...
to contract for the construction of a shot and shell-proof steamer, to be built principally of iron, on the Stevens plan. The armor was to be thick, a thickness believed by the Stevens brothers to be sufficient to resist any gun then known. But experiments made by
John Ericsson John Ericsson (born Johan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American engineer and inventor. He was active in England and the United States. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the railroad steam locomotive Novelty (lo ...
with his big wrought-iron gun proved that 4.5 inches of armor was insufficient, and the construction of the vessel was thus delayed. In 1854, the builders constructed a larger battery, to be plated with of iron, but this in turn was never finished. This vessel was referred to as the " Stevens Battery".


A working "proof of concept" vessel

To demonstrate the practicality of the plan of the Stevens Battery, the Stevens brothers bought, modified and fitted out at their own expense a small prototype. The iron steamer — originally named ''Naugatuck'' — was built in 1844 by H.R. Dunham & Company, a New York City locomotive builder, for the Ansonia Copper and Brass Company. During the 1850s, ''Naugatuck'' ran between New London and New York. In 1861, Stevens bought ''Naugatuck'' as a test-bed for innovations intended for the Stevens Battery, still unfinished in the shipyard. During 1861 and early 1862, Stevens reinforced the deck to support one 100-pound
Parrott gun The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle-loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War. Parrott rifle The gun was invented by Captain Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He was an American soldier and invento ...
amidships trained forward, later augmented with two 12-pounder
howitzer The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...
s. Stevens replaced the original engine with a twin propeller arrangement, driven by two inclined engines with one boiler. He also added interior ballast tanks fore and aft. The New York Times reported on March 22, 1862, that "The ''Naugatuck'' is not intended to be a model of Mr. Stevens' iron-clad battery, but is designed to illustrate one or two novel ideas connected with that monstrous engine of war, viz: The ability to sink and raise a vessel with great rapidity; to turn and manage her by means of two propellers located one on each side of the stern; also, taking up the recoil of the gun by means of India-rubber." Stevens renamed the vessel after himself. Many contemporary newspapers and later historians mistakenly confused the ''E.A. Stevens'' with the ''Stevens Battery''. Edwin Stevens designed the gunboat to operate in shallow waters. The iron hull's ballast tanks were placed at the fore and aft extremes of the hull, and utilized a patented gum rubber liner to ensure a watertight seal. These ballast tanks were used to make the vessel semi-submersible, allowing the hull to change its
draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
from to . The reduced freeboard minimized the vessel's vulnerability to gunfire, keeping the steam machinery below the waterline. Stevens added heavy duty centrifugal pumps that could fill ballast in minutes or, if the boat grounded while ballasted down, pump out to refloat the vessel quickly. With the ballast tanks dry, the vessel's speed increased from to over . While her hull boasted all-iron construction, her only armor consisted of a low-lying angled armor band or skirt surrounding the main deck. This band covered a wooden bulwark built of solid cedar, which rose above the deck and measured in depth. The bulwark surrounded the deck, keeping water off it and providing slight cover from enemy fire while ballasted down. At the onset of the Civil War, Stevens offered to donate his gunboat to the Navy, but officials refused the gift, explaining that the untried prototype was not suitable for Navy missions. Stevens then donated her to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, providing them with their first ironclad gunboat. ''E.A. Stevens'' was stationed as one of the cutters patrolling the Varrazano Narrows entrance to New York harbor.


Operating with the North Atlantic Blockade

In March 1862, the Treasury Department ordered the gunboat to steam south from New York to Hampton Roads. It did so with a crew of boatswain, gunner, carpenter, steward, cook, two quartermasters, 14 seamen, and a "servant." The crew also included some of Stevens' associates, including William W. Shippen, from the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company. Shippen commanded the vessel, and
Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
s J. Wall Wilson and E.L. Morton (USRCS) serving under him. Thomas Lingle, who installed the gunboat's machinery, served as chief engineer and remained in that position into 1863. On April 9, ''E.A. Stevens'' reached Hampton Roads to join the
North Atlantic Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...
's James River Squadron. On April 11, under command of Captain Shippen, ''Stevens'' exchanged fire with CSS ''Virginia'' when the ironclad emerged from its anchorage near Craney Island. ''Virginias primary target, , declined action, so the hostilities proved inconclusive. On April 29, Lieutenant David Constable, USRCS relieved Shippen and took command of the gunboat and its crew of two dozen. By May 10, Confederate land forces evacuated Norfolk, leaving the deep-draft ''Virginia'' with neither a defensible homeport nor a feasible escape route. On the evening of May 10, commanding officer Josiah Tattnall ran the ironclad aground near Craney Island and set it on fire. When the fire reached the ship's magazine, the ''Virginia'' was completely destroyed. With the destruction of the ''Virginia'', the Confederate Navy retained only a few lightly armed gunboats to counter the superior forces of the Union Navy.


Action at Drewery's Bluff (Fort Darling)

In an effort to renew his Peninsular Campaign, General George McClellan requested a squadron to force its way up the James River and threaten Richmond from the water. To fulfill this request, North Atlantic Blockading Squadron commander, Flag Officer Louis Goldsborough, assigned Commodore John Rodgers the command of the James River Squadron, which included the Navy's wooden steam gunboats and , the ironclads USS ''Monitor'' and , and ''E.A. Stevens''. The Federal warships experienced only minor resistance during their passage up the
James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...
to reach the fortifications at Drewry's Bluff. On May 15, the battle opened when Rodgers' flagship ''Galena'' approached to within of sunken obstructions in the river. The fort was armed with eight heavy naval guns, manned by local Confederate land forces and naval personnel (the former crew of the ''Virginia''). ''Galena'' received over forty hits, of which eighteen penetrated its armor. ''Stevens'' also moved up to take its place in the battle. The gunboat's technological innovations worked effectively, and she sustained no heavy damage from plunging fire as it sat partly submerged and firing its main battery. Moreover, the gunboat's ordnance loading system successfully protected the crew from enemy sharpshooters and musket fire. ''Stevens'' bombardment halted when the 100-pound Parrott rifle burst while firing. The explosion shattered the gun's breech, damaging the pilothouse and the ship's deck. Despite losing its main gun, the gunboat continued to fire its 12-pound howitzers with canister and shell. By 11 a.m., ''Galena'' had suffered severe damage, exhausted her ammunition, and sustained thirteen dead and many wounded. Rodgers ordered the fleet to retire down river. ''Stevens'' had experienced few casualties despite musket fire, enemy shelling, and her catastrophic gun failure. One of the crew received a shot in the arm; another suffered a serious contusion. Lieutenant Constable sustained a head injury from shrapnel from the exploding Parrott gun, but remained at his station directing the broadside guns and commanding the ship throughout the remainder of the battle. The James River Squadron retired to City Point, with ''Stevens'' arriving that evening and the rest of the squadron arriving in the morning of May 16. On the 16th, Rodgers convened a board, composed of squadron officers, to examine the remains of the Parrott rifle and determine the cause of its failure. The board concluded that rigorous testing and experimentation before installation on board ''Stevens'' had weakened the gun, which was the first of its kind produced by the manufacturer. Meanwhile, the gunboat received the squadron's wounded and proceeded downriver shortly thereafter to Fort Monroe. ''E.A. Stevens'' had been operating in Virginia waters since early April 1862. Even though her main gun remained shattered, Commodore Rodgers still felt it could provide good service to the James River Squadron. Nevertheless, the vessel saw no serious action after Drewry's Bluff.


Returned to the Treasury Department

''Naugatuck'' was returned to the Treasury Department, and on May 26 the Secretary ordered the gunboat to depart Hampton Roads and steam north to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs. On May 29, while the gunboat underwent these repairs, President Lincoln honored Lieutenant Constable by promoting him to captain before an audience of his full cabinet. Soon afterward, the Treasury Department transferred Constable to a new assignment, but not one near the front lines of the war. By mid-July 1862, the gunboat had made its way to New York City to become guard ship for the harbor. In July 1863, the gunboat defended the McDougal General Hospital at Fort Schuyler, playing a small role in the New York City Draft Riots. On July 29, Treasury Secretary
Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States from 1864 to his death in 1873. Chase served as the 23rd governor of Ohio from 1856 to 1860, r ...
ordered the gunboat's name to revert from ''E.A. Stevens'' back to ''Naugatuck''. Out of her 45 years of existence, the vessel held the name ''E.A. Stevens'' for little more than three years. After the conclusion of hostilities, the Treasury Department assigned ''Naugatuck'' responsibility for patrolling North Carolina's inland sounds, homeported at
New Bern New Bern, formerly Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 31,291 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located at the confluence of the Neuse River, Neuse a ...
. ''Naugatuck'' served in this duty from late 1865 until the summer of 1889, with periodic trips to
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
,
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
, and
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
for maintenance and repairs. Throughout her career as a gunboat, ''E.A. Stevens/Naugatuck'' remained a steamer in the Revenue Cutter Service and at no time had belonged to the United States Navy. On 18 August 1889, she was reported at Baltimore, Maryland to be sold.


Notes


References

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External links


USS NaugatuckUS Coast Guard Historian Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naugatuck Ships of the United States Revenue Cutter Service Ships of the Union Navy Gunboats of the United States Navy American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in New York City 1844 ships