USS Dictator

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}}

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 | }}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{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 }}

• {{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}}

• {{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}}

• {{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}}

• {{cite web |title=Statistical Data of Union and Confederate Ships; Muster Roles of Confederate Government Vessels; Letters of Marque and Reprisals; Confederate Department Investigations |url=http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/text/ofre2001.txt |website=Ebooks |access-date=3 February 2017 |ref=CITEREFStatistical Data}}
• {{cite web |title=New Market Historical Society |url=http://www.newmarketnhhistoricalsociety.org/profiles/smith-charles-us-navy/ |website=www.newmarketnhhistoricalsociety.org |access-date=3 February 2017 |ref=CITEREFNew Market |language=en}}
• {{navsource|http://www.navsource.net/archives/01/dictator.htm|USS Dictator}}

{{Union ironclads}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dictator}}

Category:Ships built in New York City

Category:Monitors of the United States Navy

Category:Ironclad warships of the Union Navy

Category:1863 ships

Category:American Civil War monitors of the United States