USS Yuma (1865)

USS Yuma, a single-turreted, twin-screw monitor, was laid down at Cincinnati, OH, by Alexander Swift and Co. and launched on 30 May 1865. A Casco-class, light-draft monitor, she was intended for service in the shallow bays, rivers, and inlets of the Confederacy. These warships sacrificed armor plate for a shallow draft and were fitted with a ballast compartment designed to lower them in the water during battle.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Yuma and USS Tempest.
History
Name: USS Yuma
Ordered: April 1863
Builder: Alexander Swift and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio
Launched: 30 March 1865
Commissioned: Never commissioned
Fate: Sold, 12 September 1874
General characteristics
Class and type: Casco-class monitor
Displacement: 1,175 long tons (1,194 t)
Length: 225 ft (69 m)
Beam: 45 ft (14 m)
Draft: 9 ft (2.7 m)
Propulsion: Screw steamer
Speed: 9 knots (10 mph; 17 km/h)
Complement: 60 officers and enlisted
Armament: 2 × 11 in (280 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns
Armor:
  • Turret: 8 in (200 mm)
  • Pilothouse: 10 in (250 mm)
  • Hull: 3 in (76 mm)
  • Deck: 3 in (76 mm)

Design revisions

Though the original designs for the Casco-class monitors were drawn by John Ericsson, the final revision was created by Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers following Rear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont's failed bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1863. By the time that the plans were put before the Monitor Board in New York City, Ericsson and Simers had a poor relationship, and Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair John Lenthall had little connection to the board. This resulted in the plans being approved and 20 vessels ordered without serious scrutiny of the new design. $14 million US was allocated for the construction of these vessels. It was discovered that Stimers had failed to compensate for the armor his revisions added to the original plan and this resulted in excessive stress on the wooden hull frames and a freeboard of only 3 inches (76 mm). Stimers was removed from the control of the project and Ericsson was called in to undo the damage. He was forced to raise the hulls of the monitors under construction by 22 inches (560 mm) to make them seaworthy.

Fate

Alterations were accordingly carried out on the vessel during the spring of 1866 to remedy the shortcoming in design, but the ship never saw active service. Laid up from 1866 to 1874, Yuma was twice renamed during this time period: first, to Tempest on 15 June 1869 and, second, back to Yuma on 10 August 1869.

The monitor was subsequently sold at auction to Theodore Allen, at New Orleans, LA, on 12 September 1874.

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References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.
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