USS Monongahela (1862)

[Pollaco]

Even when fitted with that iron shield she was said to have done more damage to herself than any damage that was inflicted on the C.S. Tennessee in that ramming incident.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Even when fitted with that iron shield she was said to have done more damage to herself than any damage that was inflicted on the C.S. Tennessee in that ramming incident.

Isn't it curious that all steel 19th Century line of battle ships retained a ramming bow? When it was recognized that no opponent was ever likely to be rammed & that catastrophic damage was inflicted during peace time collisions, the ram was finally deleted.

Note: In Robert Massey's excellent "Dreadnaught, Britain, Germany & the Coming of the Great War." There is a vivid account of the catastrophic ramming of the battleship HMS Victoria, Flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1893, during a complicated maneuver leading up to a fleet anchorage off Tripoli, Victoria went down in 13 minutes with great loss of life.

While this incident demonstrated the effectiveness of the steel ramming bow, it was recognized that it was far more a danger to other vessels in a routine collision than ever to an enemy. Thus, thousands of years of ramming bows came to an end.

 

[Pollaco]

A little off topic but I've always been curious about the "Ellet Rams" of the Mississippi fleet. Were these boats fitted with a ramming prows or some sort of devices that made them truly rams?

 

[Rhea Cole]

<Navsource.com> Main Index, Old Sail & Steam has a comprehensive listing of US & CS naval vessels. Each is accompanied by photographic & graphic images. A detailed bio of the ship's service is included.

There are several photos that appear to have been taken in circa 1893 along with the image above. Notable is one bow on with the limp hanging sails drawing nicely.

Something I have never seen anywhere else is included in the Monogahela collection are sailors in blackface. One sailor, renowned as a raconteur, is depicted personally.

The Monogahela had an unusually varied life. As launched in 1862 with flush deck, swivel gun, hermaphrodite rig & no bowsprit she had a singular profile. As depicted above, refitted as a barque, she had a long career as a sail training vessel.

Monogahela met an inglorious fate. Reduced to a store ship at Guantanamo she was destroyed by a fire.

Note: Fair warning, the NavSource Photo Index has hundreds of Civil War listings. Before you know it, your untouched coffee can go cold.

 

[Rhea Cole]

A little off topic but I've always been curious about the "Ellet Rams" of the Mississippi fleet. Were these boats fitted with a ramming prows or some sort of devices that made them truly rams?

Ellet's rams were purpose built to be rams. A singular feature of wooden hulled vessels during the blackpowder era was their durability. It was almost impossible to sink one with gunfire. Even vessels with upper works pounded to splinters stayed afloat. The only way to inflict a fatal hull breach was by ramming.

 

[Grant's Tomb]

In answer to a PM, the sail behind the limp US flag is a topsail. In the years following the 1860's that sail was divided into an upper & lower topsail. That rig gave sailors greater flexibility in adjusting the sails to wind conditions. A split sail was easier to raise & lower.
View attachment 485070
"Amsterdam " Dutch East indiaman. Note the lantern spanker.

Today, the only square rigged ships with full cut single topsails are reproductions of historic vessels.

I notice that the movie "Master & Commander, Far Side of the World" is on numerous online sites. The ship used in the movie was originally built as a Bicentennial project. The HMS Rose was built as a reproduction of a 6th rate frigate laid down in 1757.

After a career as a sail training vessel, the Rose was purchased & converted into the HMS Surprise of Patrick O'Brian novels fame. The Rose/Surprise is at a museum in San Diego.

The at sea sequences in the movie such as setting stunsails are a very accurate depiction of what period sail evolutions were like.

Captain Bailey & his crew had a unique body of seamanship that was brought to bear on that voyage.

That's the replica of a 1749 VOC ship at the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam. I visited that museum when I was in Amsterdam back in 2013 and also went aboard the ship. The HMS Rose/Surprise was built in the shipyards of Smith & Rhuland in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia that also built the Bluenose and its replica Bluenose II as well as an enlarged reconstruction of the original 1787 HMS Bounty which unfortunately sank in Hurricane Sandy off of New London, CT