USS Baron De Kalb (1861)
USS Baron DeKalb |
|
| Career (US) | |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | as St. Louis |
| Builder: | James B. Eads Yard, St. Louis, MO |
| Cost: | $89,000 USD |
| Laid down: | August 1861 |
| Launched: | 12 October 1861 at Carondelet, Missouri |
| Commissioned: | 31 January 1862 |
| Renamed: | 8 September 1862 as Baron DeKalb |
| Struck: | 13 July 1863 |
| Identification: | Yellow band on stacks |
| Fate: | sunk by mine, 13 July 1863 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | City-class |
| Type: | River casemate ironclad |
| Displacement: | 512 tons |
| Length: | 175 ft (53 m) |
| Beam: | 51 ft 2 in (15.60 m) |
| Draught: | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam engine - Center Wheel, 2 horizontal HP engines (22" X 6"), 5 boilers |
| Speed: | 9 mph (14 km/h) |
| Complement: | 251 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | (see section below) |
| Armour: | 2.5" on the casemates, 1.25" on the pilothouse |
USS Baron DeKalb (1861) was a City class ironclad gunboat constructed for the Union Navy by James B. Eads during the American Civil War.
The USS Baron DeKalb, named after General Baron DeKalb of Hüttendorf near Erlangen, in present-day Bavaria, was originally named Saint Louis, and was one of seven City class ironclads built at Carondelet, Missouri and Mound City, Illinois, for the Western Gunboat Flotilla
These ironclads were shallow draft with a center driven paddle wheel. They were partially armored and slow and very hard to steer in the currents of rivers. This ironclad was also vulnerable to plunging fire and also by hits in their un-armored areas. Called "Pook Turtles" for the designer, they did yeoman service through 4 years of war and were present at almost every battle on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
Read more about USS Baron De Kalb (1861): Built in Missouri in 1861, Chronology, Armament
Famous quotes containing the word baron:
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—Kenneth MacKenzie Clark, Baron of Saltwood (1903–1983)