American Civil War Ironclad by Buffalo1

Photography • Military • posted on Jan 16, 2009

Open full image in new tab Zoom on image

Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.

Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.

Description

The USS Cairo (Kay-ro, as the Illinois city is pronounced) is a City class ironclad gunboat launched at Mound City, Illinois on Jan. 16, 1862. She would be part of the Federal (Northern) flotilla that was to free the Mississippi River from Confederate (Southern) control. She was in action on June 6, 1862 as part of a Union squadron that sank or ran aground 7 Confederate gunboats at Memphis, Tennessee. The Southerners would get their revenge on December 12, 1862 when the Cairo was clearing mines (or electric torpedoes as they were called) from the Yazoo River near Vicksburg, Mississippi. Confederates detonated a mine under her, causing the Cairo to sink, but with no casualties. The USS Cairo became the first armored ship to be sunk by this type of weapon. Her remains were covered in river silt until she was rediscovered in the late 1950s. Her pilot house was raised in 1960 and there were hopes of raising the whole vessel intact, but the wood was too fragile and she was cut into three pieces with the official raising being December 12, 1964. Her iron armor, engines and guns were not in that bad shape and were taken to be cleaned and preserved. The result is the warship on display at the Vicksburg National Military Park. The photo shows three of her 32 pounder guns, her armor plate, and the iron parts of the paddle wheel sticking up above the display frame.

Comments (17)

)

tennesseecowgirl

10:55PM | Fri, 16 January 2009

Great that they were able to rescue and preserve part of this.. Loved reading the history you included.

)

bmac62

12:54AM | Sat, 17 January 2009

This is interesting stuff. I never realized that the Union Navy built any gunboats of this design but it would have been easier to build than the Monitor type which they did build in larger numbers toward the latter part of the war. I have old pictures of large twin turreted Monitor type gunboats on the Mississippi. Bill

Kazziga

1:53AM | Sat, 17 January 2009

I love the ironclad warships of the Civil War. Thanks for the photo.

)

DaveF

4:29AM | Sat, 17 January 2009

I was there in 2007 and walked through that ship, too. It was amazing! I participated in a living history program for the National Park Service in June of that year that involved both Union and Confederate impressions. We slept in original Union trench works while our counterparts slept in original Confederate fortifications. We endured chiggers, ground hornets, and extreme heat (106° F in wool uniforms is even tough for the hardy men of Wisconsin and Illinois to handle) for two days to help raise funds for battlefield preservation for the VIcksburg National Military Park. Yes... my friends and I are nuts, but it was well worth the experience and it was for a good cause. You can read all you want about the Siege of Vicksburg, but you can never fathom the scale of that siege until you've visited that battlefield and see the miles and miles of trench works for yourself. The same holds true for the Cairo. I tried to imagine what it would be like having to work in the boiler room, shoveling coal to feed that enormous beast. Thanks for sharing the photo and I'm glad you had the opportunity to experience the USS Cairo, too. Dave

)

erlandpil

4:34AM | Sat, 17 January 2009

Good shot erland

)

texboy

8:10AM | Sat, 17 January 2009

God bless the CSA! Great shot and historical note, bud!

)

jocko500

2:45PM | Sat, 17 January 2009

wonderful history this is . cool image

)

Osper

9:52PM | Sat, 17 January 2009

Nice shot. COuld have used this when builing up a model of it.

)

junge1

10:03PM | Sat, 17 January 2009

Great picture and interesting narrative. Thanks!

)

rj2650

10:18PM | Sat, 17 January 2009

Cool. Great synopsis.

)

debbielove

6:11AM | Sun, 18 January 2009

Dude! Really interesting picture and history of the ship/boat! Amazing it survived so well intact from rust damage. Must have been the lack of salt in the water? Are there plans to restore the rest of the boat? Very impressed! Rob.

)

Buffalo1

11:48AM | Sun, 18 January 2009

@Rob: This is the best pic I got that day and unfortunately it doesn't show the whole gunboat. If you check out some of the websites featuring the USS Cairo you can see the bow, which contains the most original wood. So much wood was unusable, that the wooden display frame had to be made.

)