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USS Dictator

A watercolor of the USS Dictator by Oscar Parks
A watercolor of USS Dictator by Oscar Parks
History
Name: USS Dictator
Builder: Delamater Iron Works, New York
Laid down: 16 August 1862
Launched: 26 December 1863
Commissioned: 11 November 1864
Decommissioned: 1 June 1877
Struck: 5 September 1865
Reinstated: 20 July 1869
Fate: Sold, 27 September 1883
General characteristics
Type: Monitor
Displacement: 4,438 long tons (4,509 t)
Length: 312 ft (95.1 m)
Beam: 50 ft (15.2 m)
Draft: 20 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
Installed power: 3,500 ihp (2,600 kW)
Propulsion: 2 screws; vibrating-lever steam engine
Speed: 10 knots (18.5 km/h; 11.5 mph)
Complement: 174 officers and enlisted men
Armament: 2 × 15 in (381 mm) Dahlgren smoothbores
Armor:
  • Turret: 15 in (381 mm)
  • Pilothouse: 12 in (305 mm)
  • Hull: 6 in (152 mm)
  • Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm)

USS Dictator was a single-turreted ironclad monitor, designed for speed, and to sail on the open sea. Originally to be named Protector, the Navy Department preferred a more aggressive name, and thus she was named Dictator. She was the sister ship of USS Puritan. Despite her being designed for speed, design problems limited her to a maximum of 10 knots. She served in two different periods; from 1864 to 1865, serving with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and from 1869 to 1877, with the North Atlantic Fleet. After her final decommissioning in 1877, she was sold in 1883.

Dictator was 312 ft (95.1 m) long, 50 ft (15.2 m) wide, had a draft of 20 ft 6 in (6.2 m), and displaced 4,438 long tons (4,509 t). She had a top speed of 10 knots (18.5 km/h; 11.5 mph), and was propelled by two screws and a two-cylinder Ericsson vibrating lever-engine, with a total of 3,500 indicated horsepower (2,600 kW). It is thought that she had a light hurricane deck amidships. She was designed to carry 1,000 tons of coal. She was armed with two 15-inch (38 cm) Dahlgren smoothbore guns. She had 15 inches of armor on the turret, 12 in (305 mm) on the pilothouse, 6 in (152 mm) on the hull, and 1.5 in (38 mm) on the deck. She had a crew of 174 men.

Originally she was to be called Protector, however she was named Dictator on 1 April 1862, after John Ericsson requested it from the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Gustavus Fox.


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