USS Carondelet (1861)

USS ''Carondelet'' ( ) (1861) was a gunboat constructed for the War Department by James B. Eads during the American Civil War. It was named for the town where it was built, Carondelet, Missouri.

''Carondelet'' was designed for service on the western rivers, with a combination of shallow draft and variety of heavy guns (and a light howitzer), she was suited for riverside bombardment and ship-to-ship combat against Confederate gunboats.

Built in Carondelet Missouri in 1861

USS ''Carondelet'', an ironclad river gunboat, was built in 1861 by James Eads and Co., St. Louis, Missouri, at the Union Iron Works, in Carondelet, Missouri under contract to the United States Department of War. ''Carondelet'' was commissioned 15 January 1862, at Cairo, Illinois, U.S. Navy Commander Henry A. Walke in command, and reported to Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla, commanded by U.S. Navy Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote.

Civil War service

Union Army service

Between January and October 1862, ''Carondelet'' operated almost constantly on river patrol and in the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February; the passing of Island No. 10 and the attack on and spiking of the shore batteries below New Madrid, Missouri, in April; the lengthy series of operations against Plum Point Bend, Fort Pillow, and Memphis, Tennessee, from April through June, and the engagement with on 15 July, during which ''Carondelet'' was heavily damaged and suffered 35 casualties.

Union Navy service

Transferred to Navy control with the other ships of her flotilla on 1 October 1862, ''Carondelet'' continued the rapid pace of her operations, taking part in the unsuccessful Steele's Bayou Expedition in March 1863.

One of those to pass the Vicksburg and Warrenton, Mississippi batteries in April 1863, ''Carondelet'' took part on 29 April in the five-and-a-half-hour engagement with the batteries at Grand Gulf. She remained on duty off Vicksburg, bombarding the city in its long siege from May to July. Without her and her sisters and other naval forces, the great operations on the rivers would not have been possible and the Federal victory might not have been won.

From 7 March to 15 May 1864, she sailed with the Red River Expedition, and during operations in support of Union Army movements ashore, took part in the Bell's Mill engagement (part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign) of December 1864. For the remainder of the war, ''Carondelet'' patrolled in the Cumberland River.

Commanding Officers

''Carondelet'' had several commanding officers over the duration of her service.Angus Konstam, (2002), ''Union River Ironclad 1861–65'', Osprey Publishing, New Vanguard 56,

During the Civil War four of ''Carondelet''s crew members were awarded the Medal of Honor: Signal Quartermaster Matthew Arther for actions at the Battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, February 1862; Seaman John Dorman for actions in various engagements; Fireman Michael Huskey, for actions during Steele's Bayou Expedition, March 1863; and Coxswain John G. Morrison, for actions in the engagement with CSS ''Arkansas'', 15 July 1862.

Post-war decommissioning and sale

She was decommissioned at Mound City, Illinois, on 20 June 1865, and sold there on 29 November 1865.

Subsequent career and sinking

In 1873, shortly before she was to be scrapped, a flood swept ''Carondelet'' from her moorings in Gallipolis, Ohio. She then drifted approximately 130 miles down the Ohio River, where she grounded near Manchester, Ohio. Her ultimate fate remained unknown until a May 1982 search operation by Clive Cussler's National Underwater and Marine Agency pinpointed the location of the wreckage, just two days after a dredge passed directly over the wreckage, demolishing most of the wrecked vessel.

Armament

Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads, USS ''Carondelet'' had its armament changed multiple times over life of the vessel. To expedite the entrance of ''Carondelet'' into service, she and the other ''City''-class gunboats were fitted with whatever weapons were available; then had their weapons upgraded as new pieces became available. Though the Dahlgren smoothbore cannons were fairly modern most of the other original armaments were antiquated; such as the 32-pounders, or modified; such as the 42-pounder "rifles" which were in fact, old smoothbores that had been gouged out to give them rifling. These 42-pounder weapons were of particular concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker and more prone to exploding than purpose-built rifled cannons. Additionally, the close confines of riverine combat greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat.

See also

* Union Navy
* Anaconda Plan
* Mississippi Squadron

References

Sources

* Coombe, Jack, ''Thunder Along the Mississippi: The River Battles That Split The Confederacy'' (Book Sales Inc. 2005)
* Cussler, Clive and Craig Dirgo, ''The Sea Hunters'' (Simon & Schuster 1996)
*
* Smith, Myron J., ''Tinclads in the Civil War: Union light-Draught Gunboat Operations on Western Waters, 1862–1865'' (McFarland 2009)

External links

Pictures of USS ''Carondelet'' (1862–1865)

Bombardment of Fort Henry (Feb. 2-6, 1862)

Building the City Class Ironclads Documentary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carondelet
Ships built in St. Louis
Steamships of the United States Navy
Gunboats of the United States Navy
American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States
Shipwrecks of the Ohio River
Shipwrecks of the American Civil War
1861 ships
Ships of the Union Navy
Maritime incidents in May 1864