- USS Napa (1864)
USS "Napa" was a "Casco" class twin-screw light draft monitor built during the
American Civil War for operation in the shallow inland waters of the Confederacy. These warships sacrificedarmor plate for ashallow draft and were fitted with a ballast compartment designed to lower them in the water during battle.Construction
The single-turreted "Napa" was built by the
Harlan & Hollingsworth Co.,Wilmington, DE , and launched26 November 1864 . Though the original designs for the "Casco"-class monitors were drawn byJohn Ericsson , the final revision was created by Chief Engineer Alban B. Stimers followingRear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont's failed bombardment ofFort Sumter in1863 . By the time that the plans were put before the Monitor Board inNew York, NY , Ericsson and Stimers had a poor relationship, also Chief of Naval Construction John Lenthall had little connection to the board. This resulted in the plans being approved and 20 vessels ordered without serious scrutiny of the new design. $14 million US was allocated for the construction of these vessels. It was discovered that Stimers had failed to compensate for the armor his revisions added to the original plan and this resulted in excessive stress on the wooden hull frames and a freeboard of only 3 inches. Stimers was removed from the control of the project and Ericsson was called in to undo the damage. He was forced to raise the hulls of the monitors under construction by nearly two feet and the first few completed vessels had their turrets removed and a single pivot-mount 11 inch Dahlgren cannon mounted. These same few vessels had a retractablespar torpedo added as well.Torpedo vessel conversion
As a result, "Napa" was converted to a torpedo vessel,
25 June 1864 and turned over to the government upon her completion4 May 1865 . Never commissioned, she was laid up atLeague Island , PA, until1875 when she was broken up by John Roach at New York. While at League Island, her name was changed twice: to "Nemesis",15 June 1869 ; and back to "Napa",10 August 1869.See also
*See USS "Napa" for other ships of this name.
*See USS "Nemesis" for other ships of this name.References
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