Stevens Battery - The 1869 Design

The 1869 Design

Edwin Stevens died in 1868, leaving the Stevens Battery and $1,000,000 (USD) with which to finish her to the State of New Jersey. New Jersey Governor Theodore F. Randolph appointed an oversight comnmission, and Major General George B. McClellan, the commander of the Army of the Potomac early in the Civil War, became engineer-in-chief.

McClellan redesigned the ship yet again. The 1866 Battle of Lissa, in which ramming had proven an important tactic, was influential in ship design for 40 years, and his 1869 design called for the ship to have an iron spur ram bow. She also was to have a heavier hull. Instead of guns mounted in casemates, the Stevens Battery now was to have her guns in a revolving turret like that of USS Monitor, although the type and caliber of guns were never determined. Her machinery was removed and replaced by ten large-diameter boilers and two Maudsley and Field vertical overhead-crosshead steam engines which were to give the Stevens Battery a top speed of 15 knots (28 km/h).