Stevens Battery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Stevens Battery design as of 1874 |
|
| Career (US) |  |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 1854 |
| Launched: | - |
| Acquired: | - |
| Commissioned: | Never |
| Decommissioned: | Never |
| Fate: | Broken up incomplete |
| General characteristics | |
| Propulsion: | steam engine screw-propelled |
| Speed: | to be determined |
| Complement: | not specified |
Stevens Battery was an early design for a type of ironclad, proposed for use by the Union Navy before the American Civil War. One full-sized example was begun but never completed due to lack of funding.
Contents |
[edit] Background history
In 1841 the sons of Col. John Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey, proposed to the Navy Department the construction of an ironclad vessel of high speed, with screw propellers and all machinery below the water line.
[edit] Proposal for design approved by Act of Congress
This proposal was accepted and an Act of Congress, approved 14 April 1842 authorized the Secretary of the Navy to contract for the construction of a shot arid shell proof steamer, to be built principally of iron, on the Stevens plan.
[edit] Design specifications
The armor was initially to be 4½" thick, a thickness believed by the Stevens to be sufficient to resist any gun then known. Later experiments made by John Ericsson with his big wrought iron gun proved that 4½" armor was insufficient, and the construction of the vessel was thus delayed. In 1854 the builders began work on a larger battery, to be plated with 6¾" of iron, but this in turn was never finished.
This larger vessel was often referred to as the Stevens Battery, and would have been a revolutionary warship had she been completed. However funding was exhausted she was worked on piecemeal over the following two decades, and finally broken up some time after 1874.
[edit] Experimental Use
Aspects of the design were used experimentally on USS Naugatuck (1862) which was later known as the USS E. A. Stevens.
[edit] References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
