USS Dictator (1863)
A watercolor of USS Dictator by Oscar Parks
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| History | |
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| 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: |
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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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