USS Nausett (1865)

USS "Nausett", a single-turreted, twin-screw monitor, was built by Donald McKay, South Boston, MA, and launched 26 April 1865, and commissioned 10 August 1865, Acting Master Win. U. Grozier in command. Soon after her commissioning, she steamed to New York, NY, where she decommissioned, 24 August 1865, and was laid up at the New York Navy Yard.

"Nausett" was a "Casco"-class, light-draft monitor intended for service in the shallow bays, rivers, and inlets of the Confederacy. These warships sacrificed armor plate for a shallow draft and were fitted with a ballast compartment designed to lower them in the water during battle.

Though the original designs for the "Casco"-class monitors were drawn by John Ericsson, the final revision was created by Chief Engineer Alban B. Stimers following Rear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont's failed bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1863. By the time that the plans were put before the Monitor Board in New 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 Simers 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. Simers 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 22 inches to make them sea-worthy.

As a result, the "Nausett" remained in ordinary at New York for 10 years, during which time she was renamed twice: "Aetna", 15 June 1869; and back to "Nausett", 10 August 1869. In August 1875, she was broken up by John Roach of New York.

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