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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Roanoke (II)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Colorado Class Screw Frigate:
  • Laid down in May 1854 at Norfolk Navy Yard
  • Launched, 13 December 1855
  • Commissioned USS Roanoke, 4 May 1857, CAPT. John B. Montgomery in command
  • Assigned to the Home Squadron as flagship
  • Decommissioned, 24 September 1857, at Boston Navy Yard
  • Recommissioned, 18 August 1858, resuming her duties as flagship of the Home Squadron
  • Decommissioned, 12 May 1860
  • Recommissioned, 20 June 1861 and attached to the North Atlantic Squadron
    Destroyed schooner Mary off Lockwood’s Inlet, N.C., 13 July 1861
    Participated in the capture of schooners Albion and Alert and take ship Thomas Watson off Charleston, S.C., 15 October 1861
  • Decommissioned, 25 March 1862, at New York, for conversion to a triple turret monitor by the Novelty Iron Works, N.Y.
  • Monitor USS Roanoke was accepted by the Navy at New York Navy Yard, 16 April 1863
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4,772 t.
    Length 283' 8"
    Beam 56' 6"
    Depth unknown
    Draft 23' 6"
    Speed 11kts
    Complement 674
    Armament
    Frigate
    two 10" guns
    twenty-eight 9" guns
    fourteen 8" guns
    Monitor
    Forward Turret
    one 15" smoothbore
    one 150-pdr rifle
    Center Turret
    one 15" smoothbore
    one 11" smoothbore
    Aft Turret
    one 11" smoothbore
    one 150-pdr rifle
    Propulsion steam and sail
    Penn trunk steam engines
    four boilers
    single propeller, 440shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Montgomery (III) 158k Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861, pages 456-457, depicting a large number of Navy ships off the New York Navy Yard, early in the Civil War. Vessels shown include (from left to right): USS Montgomery;
    USS Vandalia;
    USS Brandywine;
    USS North Carolina;
    USS Potomac;
    USS Savannah;
    USS R.R. Cuyler;
    USS Mount Vernon;
    USS Roanoke;
    USS Resolute
    and USS Wabash. A rowing launch is underway in the foreground.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59308.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Mount Vernon
    098634502    		 130k Gunboat USS Mount Vernon at Brooklyn Navy Yard in June 1861. Behind Mount Vernon, dwarfing the gunboat, is USS Roanoke, while in the background left is the gunboat USS R. R. Cuyler.
    Harper's Weekly. 1861-07-20    		 Robert Hurst
    Roanoke (II) 117k "The Blockade of Charleston".
    A line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", July-December 1861, page 599, probably depicting the capture of the blockade runner Arthur Middleton, off Charleston, S.C., 21 August 1861. Arthur Middleton is shown in the center of the view, flying a Confederate flag. USS Vandalia is at left, and USS Roanoke is at right.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59302.    		 Robert Hurst
    Roanoke (II) 94k Lithograph of USS Roanoke as a steam frigate, prior to her 1862-63 conversion to an ironclad.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 45364.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Roanoke (II) 91k Sepia wash drawing by R.G. Skerrett, 1899, depicting USS Roanoke under way after her conversion to an ironclad, circa 1863-65.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 57813. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.    		 Robert Hurst
    Roanoke (II) 49k Watercolor by Oscar Parkes, depicting USS Roanoke after she was converted to an ironclad, circa 1863-1865.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 59548. Courtesy of Dr. Oscar Parkes, London, England, 1936.    		 Robert Hurst
    Roanoke (II) 72k Lithograph by Endicott and Company, New York, depicting USS Roanoke after conversion to an ironclad, circa 1863.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 60891. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.    		 Robert Hurst
    Roanoke (II) 103k The monitor (converted screw frigate) USS Roanoke at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn New York, probably following her decommissioning in June 1865. Note the different size gun ports in the turrets for the different caliber guns. Forward turret 1 15" SB and 1 150-pdr R. Center turret 1 15" SB and 1 11" SB. Aft turret 1 11" SB and 1 150-pdr rifle. The ship of the line in the left background is USS Vermont, which was receiving ship at the Navy Yard until September 1865.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Roanoke (II)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 22 October 2021