USS ''Suncook'' – a single-turreted, twin-screw

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– was built by the Globe Works,

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, and delivered to the government at the

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on 8 July 1865. ''Suncook'' was a ''Casco''-class, light-draft monitor intended for service in the shallow bays, rivers, and inlets of the

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. These warships sacrificed

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for a shallow

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and were fitted with a

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compartment designed to lower them in the water during battle.

Design revisions

Though the original designs for the ''Casco''-class monitors were drawn by

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, the final revision was created by Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers following

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Samuel F. Du Pont's failed bombardment of

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in 1863. By the time that the plans were put before the Monitor Board in

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, Ericsson and Simers had a poor relationship, and Chief of the

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John Lenthall had little connection to the board. This resulted in the plans being approved and 20 vessels ordered without serious scrutiny of the new design. $14 million US was allocated for the construction of these vessels. It was discovered that Stimers had failed to compensate for the armor his revisions added to the original plan and this resulted in excessive stress on the wooden hull frames and a freeboard of only 3 inches. Stimers was removed from the control of the project and Ericsson was called in to undo the damage. He was forced to raise the hulls of the monitors under construction by 22 inches to make them seaworthy.

Fate

As a result, the ''Suncook'' was laid up at the

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from 1866 to 1874. Her name was changed to USS ''Spitfire'' on 15 June 1869, but she resumed the name ''Suncook'' on 10 August 1869. The monitor was broken up at

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in July 1874.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suncook (1865) Casco-class monitors Ships built in Boston 1865 ships