Please Report Any Broken Links Or Trouble You Might Come Across To The Webmaster.
Please Take A Moment To Let Us Know So That We Can Correct Any Problems And Make Your Visit As Enjoyable And As Informative As Possible.


NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

USS PASSAIC


Passaic Class Monitor: Displacement: 1,875 tons. Dimensions: 200 x 46 x 10.5 feet/60.96 x 14.01 x 3.2 meters. Propulsion: Ericsson VL engines, 2 boilers, 320 hp, 1 shaft, 4-5 knots. Crew: 75. Armor: Iron: 3-5 inch sides, 1 inch deck, 11 inch turret. Armament: 1 dual turret with 1x15 inch Dahlgren smoothbore, 1x11 inch Dahlgren smoothbore.

Operational and Building Data: Contracted to John Ericsson; construction subcontracted to Continental Iron Works, Greenpoint, New York. Launched August 1862, commissioned 25 November 1862. Decommissioned to reserve 16 June 1865. Repaired and prepared for service 1876; recommissioned 24 November 1876. Served as a receiving ship at Washington DC 1878-1882, then at the Naval Academy 1883-1892, at Boston 1893-1894. Loaned to the Massachusetts Naval Militia 1895-1896; Georgia Naval Militia 1897-1898.
Fate: Recommissioned for Spanish American War service 16 May 1898; decommissioned 11 September 1898. Sold for scrapping 10 October 1899.
Click On Image
For Full Size
Size Image Description Source
Passaic 27k Builders half model of Passaic, lead ship of her class. Photo courtesy of "Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 12, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R. (LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.
Passaic 83k Body plan of the monitor Passaic. Photo courtesy of "Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 17, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R. (LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.
Passaic 39k Plan of turret for Passaic class monitors. The port stoppers can be seen clearly in this drawing. Photo courtesy of "Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 11, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R. (LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.
Passaic 61k Propeller and rudder arrangement of the Passaic class. Photo courtesy of "Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 13, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R. (LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.
Passaic 120k Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly/i>, 1862, depicting Passaic "trying her large gun at the Palisades", during gunnery trials in the Hudson River on 15 November 1862. The ship was armed with two large Dahlgren smooth-bore guns: one XI-inch and one XV-inch. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 58735.
Passaic 131k Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly/i>, 1862, depicting Passaic "as she will appear at sea". She was commissioned on 25 November 1862. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 58736.
Passaic 144k Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly/i>, 1862, depicting the interior of the Passaic's gun turret. Passaic was armed with two large Dahlgren smooth-bore guns: one XI-inch and one XV-inch. Note round shot in the foreground, that at right in a hoisting sling, and turning direction marking on the gun carriage. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 58734.
Passaic 74k Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly/i>, January-June 1863, page 196, depicting the bombardment of Fort McAllister, Georgia, 3 March 1863, by the U.S. Navy monitors Passaic, Patapsco and Nahant. The engraving is based on a sketch by "an eye-witness" on board Montauk, which is in the right center foreground. In the left foreground, firing on the fort, are the mortar schooners C.P. Williams, Norfolk Packet and Para. Among other U.S. Navy ships involved were gunboats Wissahickon, Seneca and Dawn and tug Dandelion. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 59288.
Ironclads in Action
nantucket1e
648k Ironclads in Action
Sketch of Charleston Harbor, showing placement of US Navy Ironclads during the attack in April 1863 (from top to bottom):
Keokuk,
Weehawken,
Passaic,
Montauk,
Patapsco,
Catskill,
Nantucket &
Nahant.
Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
Passaic
passaic1q
697k Turret of monitor Passaic showing effects of 7 April 1863 attack on Charleston Harbor. Photo courtesy of artsandsciences.sc.edu via Tommy Trampp.
Passaic 107k "Panoramic View of Charleston Harbor. -- Advance of Ironclads to the Attack, 7 April, 1863" Line engraving published in "The Soldier in our Civil War", Volume II, page 172, with a key to individual ships and land features shown. U.S. Navy ships present are (from left to center): Keokuk, Nahant, Nantucket, Catskill, New Ironsides, Patapsco, Montauk, Passaic and Weehawken. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 59269.
Passaic 61k George Cook’s photograph of Union ironclads firing on Fort Moultrie, S.C., believed to be the world’s first combat photograph.
Monitors engage Confederate batteries on Sullivan's Island, Charleston, South Carolina. Photographed from one of the Confederate emplacements, the ships are identified as (from left to right): Weehawken, Montauk and Passaic. The monitor on the right appears to be firing its guns. Date is given as 8 September 1863, when other U.S. Navy ships were providing cover for Weehawken, which had gone aground on the previous day. She was refloated on the 8th after receiving heavy gunfire from the Confederate fortifications.
Photo courtesy of the Cook Collection, Valentine Richmond History.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph USNHC # NH 51964.
Passaic 79k Wash drawing by R.G. Skerrett, 1898, depicting the Passaic as she was during the Civil War. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 42803.
Passaic 111k Passaic's officers and crew at divine services, while she was off Charleston, South Carolina, during the Civil War. Photographed by the Matthew Brady organization. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 59426.
Passaic 71k Drawing of the New Ironsides and Passaic by Fred S. Cozzens, published in Our Navy -- Its Growth and Achievements, 1897, depicting the ships during the Civil War. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 74548.
Passaic 50k Passaic off the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, circa 1887. The Academy's "New Quarters" building is at the far left. Tall structure in the left center distance is the Maryland State House. The photograph was taken by E.H. Hart and published in his 1887 book "United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland". Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen C. Farenholt, USN(MC). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 42802.
Passaic 74k Passaic photographed late in her career, after she had been fitted with a light "flying" deck. View looks forward from off the port quarter. Note the ship's propeller well aft, with its cover removed and resting on deck. The exposed tiller and steering cables are also visible, between the propeller well and its cover. Possibly taken during Passaic's service at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, circa 1883-1892. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 43747.
Passaic 70k This plan of the monitor Passaic was prepared at the Boston Navy Yard during 1896. The changes made over the years are particularly apparent when these views are compared with the plans drawn during the Civil War. Photo & text courtesy of "Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 17, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R. (LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.
Civil War Ironclads at Sea 1.05k Civil War Ironclads at Sea. Chromolithograph by Armstrong & Company, after an 1893 watercolor by Fred S. Cozzens, published in Our Navy Its Growth and Achievements, 1897. Ships depicted are (from left to right): Monadnock class twin-turret monitor; Passaic class single-turret monitor (in foreground); Naugatuck; Keokuk; New Ironsides and Nantucket. Photo # NH 464-KN, Collection of Captain Glenn Howell, USN, 1974. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph from the National Museum of the U.S. Navy via flickr.com.
LEAGUE ISLAND4.33kTHE GALLANT MONITORS AT THE LEAGUE ISLAND NAVY YARDImage and text provided by University of California, Riverside.
Photo courtesy of The Herald. (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 22 April 1898, Image 10, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
MonitorsNRUNCLE SAM'S FLEET OF MONITORS.
In case of war with Spain, the monitor fleet would be of great value to Uncle Sam as coast defenders. Monitors are poor seagoing ships, but are very effective in the defense of seaboard cities.
First row: Wyandotte & Passaic, second row: Nantucket, Amphitrite (BM-2) & Miantonomah (BM-5); third row; Ajax.
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI.
Photo by The Hawaiian Gazette. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 22 April 1898, Image 3, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
(NISMF)376kA guest studies a painting depicting the history of battleships. The artwork was painted by George Skybeck and presented to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association during their annual banquet at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 8 December 1991. USN photo # DN-SC-92-05391, by PHC Carolyn Harris, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.

USS Passaic History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable To This Ship
Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Battleship Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Monitor National Marine Santuary, NOAA.
Tour the Wreck of the Monitor.

Back To The Main Photo Index Back To The Battleship Photo Index Page


This page is created and maintained by
Michael Mohl
All Pages © 1996 - 2024, by Paul R. Yarnall NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.