USS Roanoke (1855)
USS Roanoke as a steam frigate
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| History | |
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  United States
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| Name: | USS Roanoke |
| Namesake: | Roanoke River |
| Builder: | Norfolk Navy Yard |
| Laid down: | May 1854 |
| Launched: | 13 December 1855 |
| Commissioned: | 4 May 1857 |
| Recommissioned: | 29 June 1863 as a monitor |
| Decommissioned: | 12 June 1875 |
| Refit: | 25 March 1862 |
| Struck: | 5 August 1882 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 27 September 1883 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type: | Merrimack-class screw frigate |
| Displacement: | 4,472 long tons (4,544 t) |
| Tons burthen: | 3,400 bm |
| Length: | 263 ft 8 in (80.4 m) (p/p) |
| Beam: | 51 ft (15.5448 m) |
| Draft: | 23 ft 9 in (7.2 m) |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Sail plan: | Ship rig |
| Speed: | 8.8 knots (16.3 km/h; 10.1 mph) |
| Complement: | 674 |
| Armament: |
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| General characteristics (after reconstruction) | |
| Type: | Monitor |
| Displacement: | 6,300 long tons (6,400 t) |
| Beam: | 53 ft 3 in (16.2 m) |
| Speed: | 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) |
| Complement: | 347 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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USS Roanoke was a wooden-hulled Merrimack-class screw frigate built for the United States Navy in the mid-1850s. She served as flagship of the Home Squadron in the late 1850s and captured several Confederate ships after the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The ship was converted into an ironclad monitor during 1862–63; the first ship with more than two gun turrets in history. Her conversion was not very successful as she rolled excessively and the weight of her armor and turrets strained her hull. Her deep draft meant that she could not operate off shallow Confederate ports and she was relegated to harbor defense at Hampton Roads, Virginia for the duration of the war. Roanoke was placed reserve after the war and sold for scrap in 1883.
Roanoke was 263 feet 8 inches (80.4 m) long between perpendiculars and had a beam of 51 feet 4 inches (15.6 m). The ship had a draft of 23 feet 9 inches (7.2 m) and a depth of hold of 26 ft 2 in (8.0 m). She displaced 4,472 long tons (4,544 t) and had a burthen of 3,400 tons. Roanoke's hull was strongly reinforced by wrought iron straps. Her crew numbered 674 officers and enlisted men.
The ship had one horizontal two-cylinder trunk steam engine driving a single propeller using steam provided by four Martin boilers. The engine produced a total of 996 indicated horsepower (743 kW) and the ship had a maximum speed of 8.8 knots (16.3 km/h; 10.1 mph) under steam alone. The propeller could be hoisted and the single funnel lowered to increase speed under sail alone. Roanoke was ship rigged and had a sail area of 28,008 square feet (2,602 m2). In 1861, the ship's armament consisted of one 10-inch (254 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren pivot gun, twenty-eight 9-inch (229 mm) Dahlgren guns and fourteen 8-inch (203 mm) Dahlgren guns. The 10-inch Dahlgren weighed 12,500 pounds (5,700 kg) and could fire a 103-pound (46.7 kg) shell up to a range of 3,000 yards (2,700 m) at +19° elevation. The nine-inch gun weighed 9,200 pounds (4,200 kg) and could fire a 72.5-pound (32.9 kg) shell to a range of 3,357 yards (3,070 m) at an elevation of +15°. The eight-inch Dahlgren had a range of 2,300 yards (2,100 m) at an elevation of +10° with a 51.5-pound (23.4 kg) shell. It weighed 6,500 pounds (2,900 kg).
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