USS St. Louis (1861)
USS Baron DeKalb
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Ordered: | as St. Louis |
| Builder: | James B. Eads Yard, St. Louis, Missouri |
| Cost: | $89,000 USD |
| Laid down: | August 1861 |
| Launched: | October 12, 1861 at Carondelet, Missouri |
| Commissioned: | January 31, 1862 |
| Renamed: | September 8, 1862 as Baron DeKalb |
| Struck: | July 13, 1863 |
| Identification: | Yellow band on stacks |
| Fate: | sunk by mine, July 13, 1863 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | City-class river casemate ironclad |
| Displacement: | 512 tons |
| Length: | 175 ft (53 m) |
| Beam: | 51 ft 2 in (15.60 m) |
| Draught: | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam engine - Center Wheel, 2 horizontal HP engines (22" X 6"), 5 boilers |
| Speed: | 9 mph (14 km/h) |
| Complement: | 251 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | (see section below) |
| Armour: |
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USS Baron DeKalb (1861) was a City-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the Union Navy by James B. Eads during the American Civil War.
USS Baron DeKalb, named after General Baron DeKalb of Hüttendorf near Erlangen, in present-day Bavaria, was originally named Saint Louis, and was one of seven City-class ironclads built at Carondelet, Missouri and Mound City, Illinois, for the Western Gunboat Flotilla.
These ironclads were shallow draft with a center driven paddle wheel. They were partially armored and slow and very hard to steer in the currents of rivers. This ironclad was also vulnerable to plunging fire and also by hits in their un-armored areas. Called "Pook Turtles" for the designer, they did yeoman service through four years of war and were present at almost every battle on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
Originally built as St. Louis, the stern wheel casemate gunboat was built by James B. Eads, at the Union Marine Works at Carondelet, Missouri, for the U.S. War Department. She was launched in St. Louis, Missouri, October 12, 1861 and joined the Western Gunboat Flotilla.
During 1862 St. Louis, under the command of Lieutenant L. Paulding USN, was attached to Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote's squadron and participated in the Battle of Lucas Bend and the capture of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River (February 6, 1862). She served as flagship for the squadron when it assisted the Union Army at the capture of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River (February 14–16, 1862). Between April and June 1862, she operated against Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
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