USS Dictator

{{Short description|American Ironclad monitor}}

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{{Infobox ship begin}}

{{Infobox ship image

| Ship image=NH 59549 (26772858804).jpg

| Ship caption=

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{{Infobox ship career

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| Ship country= United States

| Ship flag= {{USN flag|1883}}

| Ship name=Dictator

| Ship namesake=

| Ship ordered=

| Ship builder=Delamater Iron Works, New York

| Ship laid down= 16 August 1862

| Ship launched= 26 December 1863

| Ship commissioned= 11 November 1864

| Ship decommissioned= 1 June 1877

| Ship in service=

| Ship out of service=

| Ship struck=5 September 1865

| Ship reinstated=20 July 1869

| Ship motto=

| Ship nickname=

| Ship honours=

| Ship fate=Sold for scrap, 27 September 1883

| Ship notes=

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{{Infobox ship characteristics

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| Header caption=

| Ship type= Monitor

| Ship displacement= {{convert|4438|LT|t|0|lk=on}}

| Ship length={{convert|312|ft|m|abbr=on|1}}

| Ship beam={{convert|50|ft|m|abbr=on|1}}

| Ship draft= {{convert|20|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on|1}}

| Ship power={{cvt|3500|ihp|lk=on}}

| Ship propulsion=2 screws; vibrating-lever steam engine

| Ship speed= {{convert|10|kn|lk=in|1}}

| Ship range=

| Ship complement=174 officers and enlisted men

| Ship armament=2 × {{convert|15|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} Dahlgren smoothbores

| Ship armor=*Turret: {{convert|15|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}

  • Pilothouse: {{convert|12|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}
  • Hull: {{convert|6|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}
  • Deck: {{convert|1.5|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}

| Ship notes=

}}

USS Dictator was a single-turreted ironclad monitor, designed for speed, and to sail on the open sea. Originally to be named {{USS|Protector || 2}}, the Navy Department preferred a more aggressive name, and she was renamed Dictator. Despite her being designed for speed, design problems limited her to a maximum of {{convert|10|kn|lk=in}}. She served in two different periods; from 1864 to 1865, serving with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and from 1869 to 1877, with the North Atlantic Fleet. After her final decommissioning in 1877, she was sold for scrap in 1883.

Description

Dictator was {{convert|312|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} long, {{convert|50|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} wide, had a draft of {{convert|20|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on|1}}, and displaced {{convert|4438|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}. She had a top speed of {{convert|10|kn|lk=in|1}},{{sfn|DANFS | }} and was propelled by two screws and a two-cylinder Ericsson vibrating lever-engine, with a total of {{convert|3,500|ihp|lk=in}}.{{sfn|Silverstone|2006|pp=8–9}} It is thought that she had a light hurricane deck amidships. She was designed to carry 1,000 tons of coal.{{sfn|Fuller|2014|pp=45–57}} She was armed with two {{convert|15|in|cm|adj=on}} Dahlgren smoothbore guns.{{sfn|Silverstone|2006|pp=8–9}} She had 15 inches of armor on the turret, {{convert|12|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} on the pilothouse, {{convert|6|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} on the hull, and {{convert|1.5|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} on the deck. She had a crew of 174 men.{{sfn|Tucker|Pierpaoli|White|2011|pp=155–162}}

Service history

File:Launch of USS Dictator.jpg

Originally she was to be called {{USS|Protector || 2}}, however she was named Dictator on 1 April 1862, after John Ericsson requested it from the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Gustavus Fox.{{sfn|Fuller|2005|p=5}}

Dictator was laid down by Delamater Iron Works, in New York, New York, under contract with John Ericsson on 16 August 1862, and launched on 26 December 1863. The ship was commissioned on 11 November 1864, under the command of Commander John Rodgers, with a crew of 174.{{sfn|Silverstone|2006|pp=8–9}}{{sfn|Naval History Society | }}

Construction problems with her powerplant kept her initial service relatively brief and inactive. Assigned to duty with North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Dictator cruised on the Atlantic coast from 15 December 1864 until placed out of commission on 5 September 1865 at the League Island Navy Yard. She remained in ordinary there until 1869.{{sfn|DANFS | }}

The ship was recommissioned on 20 July 1869, with a repair cost of $59,654.27.{{sfn|Naval History Society | }} Dictator served with the North Atlantic Fleet until 28 June 1871 when she was again placed out of commission. She was in ordinary at New York Navy Yard until 12 January 1874 when she was recommissioned for service on the North Atlantic Station. Dictator was decommissioned at League Island on 1 June 1877 and remained there until sold on 27 September 1883,{{sfn|DANFS | }} to A. Purvis & Son, for a cost of $40,250.{{sfn|Naval History Society | }}

Citations

{{reflist|30em}}

Sources

= Books =

  • {{cite book |last1=Silverstone |first1=Paul H. |title=Civil War Navies: 1855–1883 |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-0-415-97870-5 }}
  • {{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |last2=Pierpaoli |first2=Paul G. |last3=White |first3=William E. |title=The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia |date=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-1-59884-338-5 }}
  • {{cite book |last1=Fuller |first1=Howard J. |title=Empire, Technology and Seapower: Royal Navy Crisis In The Age of Palmerston|date=2014 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |isbn=978-1-134-20045-0 }}

= Websites =

  • {{cite web |title=Guide to the Naval History Society Collection 1721–1995 (bulk 1781–1936) MS 439 |url=http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/NHSColl/dscref155.html |website=dlib.nyu.edu |access-date=3 February 2017 |ref=CITEREFNaval History Society |archive-date=2 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702011050/http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/NHSColl/dscref155.html |url-status=dead }}
  • {{cite web |title=Dictator |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/dictator.html |website=www.history.navy.mil |access-date=15 March 2017 |ref=CITEREFDANFS}}

= Journals =

  • {{cite journal |last1=Fuller |first1=Howard J. |title="A Portentous Spectacle": The Monitor U.S.S. Miantonomoh Visits England |journal=International Journal of Naval History |date=December 2005 |volume=4 |issue=3 |url=http://www.ijnhonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fuller-article.pdf |access-date=15 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905103640/http://www.ijnhonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fuller-article.pdf|archive-date =5 September 2015|pages=1–23}}

Further reading

  • {{cite book |last=Canney |first=Donald L. |title=The Old Steam Navy: The Ironclads, 1842–1885 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |year=1993 |volume=II |isbn=978-0-87021-586-5 }}
  • {{cite book |last=Gibbons |first=Tony |title=Warships and Naval Battles of the Civil War |year=1989 |publisher=Gallery Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8317-9301-2}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Olmstead |first1=Edwin |last2=Stark |first2=Wayne E. |last3=Tucker |first3=Spencer C. |title=The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon |publisher=Museum Restoration Service |location=Alexandria Bay, New York |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-88855-012-5}}