Overview
was a built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The vessel was assigned to the James River Flotilla of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron upon completion in September 1864. The ship spent most of her time stationed up the James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against sorties by the Confederate ironclads of the James River Squadron. She engaged Confederate artillery batteries during the year and later participated in both the first and second battles of Fort Fisher, defending the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, in December 1864 – January 1865. Mahopac returned to the James River after the capture of Fort Fisher and remained there until Richmond, Virginia was occupied in early April.
A few days later, the monitor was transferred to Washington, D. C. and decommissioned in June and recommissioned in early 1866 for service on the East Coast and in the Caribbean. Mahopac generally remained active until 1889 when she was permanently placed in reserve. She was sold for scrap in 1902.
Description and construction
The ship was long overall, had a beam of and had a maximum draft of . She had a tonnage of 1,034 tons burthen and displaced . Her crew consisted of 100 officers and enlisted men.
Mahopac was powered by a two-cylinder horizontal vibrating-lever steam engine that drove one propeller using steam generated by two Stimers horizontal fire-tube boilers. The engine gave the ship a top speed of . She carried of coal. Mahopacs main armament consisted of two smoothbore, muzzle-loading, Dahlgren guns mounted in a single gun turret. Each gun weighed approximately . They could fire a shell up to a range of at an elevation of +7°.
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