NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Jason (ex-Sangamon) 5.1898

Ships

No	Name	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comm	Fate
	Camanche		Donohue, Ryan & Secor, Jersey City // San Francisco N Yd	1862	14.11.1864	22.8.1865	sold 3.1899
	Catskill, 6.1869- Goliath, 8.1869- Catskill		Continental Iron Wks, New York // New York N Yd	1862	6.12.1862	24.2.1863	sold 12.1901
	Lehigh		Reaney, Son & Archbold, Chester	1862	17.1.1863	15.4.1863	TS 12.1875-1879, sold 11.1900
	Montauk		Continental Iron Wks, New York	1862	9.10.1862	14.12.1862	sold 4.1904
	Nahant, 6.1869- Atlas, 8.1869- Nahant		Harrison Loring, Boston	1862	7.10.1862	29.12.1862	sold 4.1904
	Nantucket, 6.1869- Medusa, 8.1869- Nantucket		Atlantic Iron Wks, Boston	1862	6.12.1862	26.2.1863	sold 11.1900
	Passaic		Continental Iron Wks, New York	1862	30.8.1862	25.11.1862	auxiliary 1878, monitor 5.1898, sold 10.1899
	Patapsco		Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington	1862	27.9.1862	2.1.1863	sunk 15.1.1865
	Sangamon, 6.1869- Jason		Reaney, Son & Archbold, Chester	6.1862	27.10.1862	9.2.1863	sold 1905
	Weehawken		Secor, Jersey City	17.6.1862	5.11.1862	18.1.1863	foundered 6.12.1863

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	1875
Displacement full, t
Length, m	61.0
Breadth, m	14.0
Draught, m	3.20 mean
No of shafts	1
Machinery	1 Ericsson VL, 2 Martin boilers
Power, h. p.	320ihp
Max speed, kts	7
Fuel, t	coal 150
Endurance, nm(kts)
Armour, mm	iron; side: 127 - 76, turret: 279, deck: 25
Armament	1 x (1 - 381/11 short Dahlgren SB + 1 - 279/15 Dahlgren SB) Lehigh, Patapsco: 1 x (1 - 381/11 short Dahlgren SB + 1 - 203/18 150pdr Parrott RML) Camanche: 1 x 2 - 381/11 short Dahlgren SB
Complement	75

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

The Passaic class were enlarged and improved Monitors. There was a less pronounced overhang than Monitor, and the shape of the lower hull and its junction with the 'raft' were improved. Ventilation was better, and an 5.5m high funnel was fitted, protected by 8x25mm armour to a height of 1.8m. The pilot house was located on top of the turret but did not rotate with it, and had 8 x 25mm sides and a 2 x 25mm roof.  The 381mm gun muzzle did not project from the turret which was 6.4m internal diameter, and a smoke box was fined to keep smoke and fumes out. As a result the 381mm gunners could not see the target and had to aim via the 279mm or 203mm. The pendulum port-stoppers were replaced by crank-shaped forgings needing a 90° turn. Extra protection was added to some of the class as a result of experience at Charleston. Rings were fitted round the bases of turrets and pilot houses, the roofs of the latter were increased to 3 x 25mm and an extra 50 tons of 25mm deck plating added over magazines and machinery spaces.

Comanche was built in Jersey City, taken to pieces and sent to California on board Aquila which sank at San Francisco 14.11.1863. The sections were salvaged and reassembled, and Camanche launched as given above.

Ship protection

As in Monitor all the armour was built up from 25mm plates (deck 13mm) and the side was reduced to 102-76mm below water.

Modernizations

late 1863, Passaic: - 1 - 279/15; + 1 - 203/18 150pdr Parrott MLR

1864, all survived: armour of pilot roof was increased to 76mm, 25mm armour was added to the deck over magazines and machinery; + 2 x 1 - 76/11 12pdr SB field howitzers

by 1865, Catskill, Montauk, Nahant, Nantucket, Jason: - 1 - 279/15; + 1 - 381/11 short Dahlgren SB

by 1865, Lehigh, Passaic: - 1 - 203/18; + 1 - 381/11 short Dahlgren SB

Naval service

Weehawken foundered in a gale off Morris Island, Charleston 6.12.1863, from shipping too much water through open hatches and the hawse pipe before proper measures were taken, and it may be noted that Lehigh survived a Force 10 gale off Cape Hatteras when the water was more than 1.2m over her deck. These monitors were very vulnerable to mines and Patapsco sank 15.1.1865 in about 15 seconds after striking a mine with 27-30kg cannon powder charge which exploded 11m from the stem. Passaic served as receiving ship till 1878 and in 1895 she was loaned to Naval Militia. She was recommissioned for Spanish-American war but soon decommissioned and sold for scrap a year later.

) 5.1898