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Contoocook-class sloop

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Lead of the class Albany, ex-Contoocook, in 1870
Class overview
NameContoocook class
Builders
OperatorsUnited States Navy
Built1863–1868
In commission1868–1879
Planned10
Completed4
Cancelled6
Retired4
General characteristics
Class & typeScrew sloop
Displacement3,100 short tons (2,800 long tons)
Length290 feet (88 m)
Beam41 feet (12 m)
Draft16.7 feet (5.1 m)
Propulsion
Sail planship rigged
Speed13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement350
Armament

The Contoocook-class was a series of screw sloops operated by the United States Navy following the American Civil War. The ships were designed during the war to serve in a post-war Navy, and were intended to operate as commerce raiders as an economic disincentive to European powers planning a future war. However, they suffered from poor construction quality and had a brief service life during peacetime as the Navy lost funding. Despite an initial ten ships planned, only four were launched and were all decommissioned after a decade in service.

Development

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Despite the United Kingdom's official stance of neutrality during the American Civil War, British assets were used to support the rebelling Confederacy, particularly in the development of its navy. Shipyards in Liverpool indiscreetly constructed blockade runners and privateers for the Confederates, exploiting a legal loophole by ensuring the vessels were not armed until they reached Portugal. Among these ships were CSS Alabama, Florida, and Alexandra, which wreaked havoc on Union shipping; Alabama alone was responsible for destroying 65 merchant vessels.[1][2][3]

The Union Navy was alarmed by these developments, as the disruption of American trade routes drove up domestic prices, damaged the economy, and forced the reassignment of ships from blockade duties against the South. By 1863, the Union, already provoked by these developments, feared that Britain might intervene to support the Confederates directly - a scenario that would have left the Union Navy hopelessly outmatched by the Royal Navy. Faced with that prospect, the Union Navy began planning for a possible war with the United Kingdom. While the Union fleet could not match the Royal Navy in conventional battles, the plan called for employing tactics similar to those used by the Confederacy: commerce raiding. By using cruisers to launch hit-and-run attacks on British ports and merchant shipping, the Union hoped to make a war too costly for Britain to justify, ultimately forcing it back into neutrality.[4][5][6]

For the new role, the Navy developed a breed of warship known as "commerce destroyers" that had the range and speed to intercept enemy ships at sea. Twenty-seven such ships were ordered by Congress in 1863, split into three classes varying in size, speed, and armament. Largest and fastest was the Wampanoag-class frigate, most well armed was the Java-class frigate, and the smallest was the Contoocook-class sloop.[4][7]: 295, 296  The new ships were built according to a new doctrine of the Navy planned for the post-war era. Congress was only interested in a Navy that could directly protect the United States, not one that could rival the Royal or French Navies. Instead of large, costly, ocean-going ironclads such as USS Dunderburg, the legislator wanted the Navy to only consist of costal ironclads that would protect the shoreline and the commerce destroyers to operate out at sea and deter aggression from said navies.[7]: 295 [8]: 121 

Design

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The ships had a length of 290 feet (88 m), beam of 41 feet (12 m), draft of 18 feet (5.5 m), and a displacement of 3,100 short tons (2,800 long tons). While the design initially called for a ram, it was later dropped.[8]: 127  The ships were armed with one 5.3-inch (13 cm) Parrott rifled muzzle-loading gun, a broadside of fourteen 9 in (23 cm) Dahlgren cannons, and three 12 lb (5.4 kg) howitzers. As Contoocook was completed as a corvette, her spar deck carried an additional six Dahlgren guns. The ship hulls were long and narrow, resembling those of clippers, in an attempt to achieve high speeds. The ships were powered by four boilers, two of which were equipped with superheaters, which turned a single propeller. Combined with the ship-rigged sails, they could reach about 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) if conditions were beneficial. As built, the ships had one funnel and had a crew of 350 sailors.[9]: 125 [8]: 128 

Service history

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Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, the Navy faced severe funding cuts, which left many projects stalled; the next year, the last six ships of the class were cancelled.[10]: 26–27  Four years later, the Secretary of the Navy disapproved of the large number of warships named after Native American tribes and the incoherent naming conventions used across the fleet. As a result, he ordered a systematic renaming of vessels, which included Contoocook becoming Albany; Mosholu named Severn; and Pushmataha being renamed first to Cambridge and later Congress.[11][9]: 125  The class's wartime construction meant the ships were built out of green wood, which limited their lifespan and usefulness. A post-war commission reviewed the class in 1869, and found that the design was unsatisfactory due to overengineering of the engines and a high length-to-beam ratio; by the next year, both the newly renamed Severn and Albany were decommissioned despite only having recently been completed. The last two ships were out of service by the end of the decade.[8]: 128–129 

Ships in class

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Data[10]: 26–27 [8]: 129 
Name Old name Builder Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned
Albany Contoocook Portsmouth Navy Yard 1863 3 December 1864 14 March 1868 7 January 1870
Congress Pushmataha, Cambridge Philadelphia Navy Yard 1863 17 July 1868 4 March 1870 26 July 1876
Severn Mosholu Brooklyn Navy Yard Oct 1864 22 December 1867 27 August 1869 31 December 1871
Worcester Manitou Boston Navy Yard 1863 25 August 1865 27 February 1871 1879
Arapaho, Keosauqua, Mondamin, Tahgayuta, Wanalosett and Willamette cancelled in 1866

References

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  1. ^ "Supplying Warships · Liverpool's Abercromby Square and the Confederacy During the U.S. Civil War ·". ldhi.library.cofc.edu. Lowcountry Digital History Initiative. Archived from the original on July 19, 2024. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  2. ^ Quarstein, John V. (2021-08-21). "Roll, Alabama, roll! - Sinking of CSS Alabama". The Mariners' Museum and Park. Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  3. ^ "Liverpool's Abercromby Square and the Confederacy During the U.S. Civil War". ldhi.library.cofc.edu. Lowcountry Digital History Initiative. Archived from the original on 14 December 2024. Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  4. ^ a b Caiella, J.M. (April 2016). "The Wampanoag: 'Germ Idea' of the Battlecruiser". Naval History Magazine. 30 (2). Retrieved 2025-03-14.
  5. ^ Small, Stephen C. (August 2002). "The Wampanoag Goes on Trial". Naval History Magazine. 16 (4). United States Naval Institute.
  6. ^ Sloan, III, Edward W. (December 1965). "Isherwood's Masterpiece". Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute. 91 (12).
  7. ^ a b Kinnaman, Stephen Chapin (2022-06-07). John Lenthall: The Life of a Naval Constructor. Vernon Press. ISBN 978-1-64889-437-4.
  8. ^ a b c d e Canney, Donald L. (January 1, 1990). The Old Steam Navy Volume 1: Frigates, Sloops and Gunboats, 1815–1885. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0870210044.
  9. ^ a b Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860–1905. Internet Archive. New York : Mayflower Books. 1979. ISBN 978-0-8317-0302-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  10. ^ a b Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). "Unarmored Steam Vessels". Civil War Navies, 1855–1883. The U.S. Navy Warship Series. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-97872-9. OCLC 63178925.
  11. ^ "The Evolution of Ship Naming in the U.S. Navy". Naval History and Heritage Command. Archived from the original on 10 Feb 2025.
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