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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS New Ironsides

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Ironclad Steamer:
  • Laid down, date unknown, at Merrick & Sons Ship Yard, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Launched, 10 May 1862
  • Commissioned USS New Ironsides, 21 August 1862, at Philadelphia Navy Yard, CAPT. Thomas Turner, in command
  • Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, off Charleston, 17 January, 1863
  • Decommissioned in May 1864 at Philadelphia Navy Yard
  • Recommissioned, 27 August 1864, COMO. William Radford in command
  • USS New Ironsides joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Norfolk
  • Decommissioned , 6 April 1865 at League Island, Philadelphia
  • Final Disposition, destroyed by fire, 16 December 1865
    Specifications:
    Displacement 3,486 t.
    Length 230'
    Beam 57' 6"
    Draft 15' 8"
    Depth 23' 10"
    Speed 8 kts
    Complement 449
    Armament unknown
    Propulsion steam and sail
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    New Ironsides 88k Line engraving of the launching of the Ironclad Frigate USS New Ironsides, 10 May 1862, at Merrick & Sons, Ship Yard, Philadelphia, PA. Published Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, May 1862. Tommy Trampp
    New Ironsides
    098604518    		 111k Lithograph by W.H. Rease of USS New Ironsides, Philadelphia, circa 1862. Main inscription below the image reads: "U.S. Armored Frigate, New Ironsides. Designed and Constructed for the U.S. Navy Department by Merrick & Sons, Philadelphia".
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 1429. Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936.    		 Robert Hurst
    New Ironsides 170k Line engraving of USS New Ironsides published in Harper's Weekly, 1862, depicting the ship fitting out at Philadelphia, PA., in mid-1862.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58741    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    New Ironsides 392k An 1898 print of a Civil War artists etching of USS New Ironsides at Philadelphia Navy Yard, PA., "in fighting trim".
    From, "Official and Illustrated War Record", by General Marcus J. Wright, Commissioner of War Department, 1898.    		 Tommy Trampp
    New Ironsides 56k Photograph, somewhat re-touched, taken during the Civil War era, while USS New Ironsides was carrying full sail rig. Courtesy of the US Marine Corps Historical Center, Personal Papers Section: Collection of Henry Clay Cochrane.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 96018    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    New Ironsides 76k Photograph by P.F. Cooper, Philadelphia, PA., showing USS New Ironsides with a full set of masts and yards. The original photographic print is mounted on a carte de visite. Courtesy of the US Marine Corps Historical Center, Personal Papers Section: Collection of Henry Clay Cochrane, 1983.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 94784.    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    New Ironsides 94k Sepia wash drawing by Clary Ray, circa 1900, depicting USS New Ironsides with her full sailing rig. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 57832.    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    New Ironsides 548k Engraving of USS New Ironsides with her full sailing rig and monitor USS Monadnock.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 61431.    		 Tommy Trampp
    New Ironsides 321k USS New Ironsides at anchor, sometime between 1862 and 1865, location unknown. Image by Frederick Gutekunst, (1831-1917), Philadelphia, PA. Robert Hurst
    New Ironsides 107k Wash drawing by R.G. Skerrett, circa 1900, showing USS New Ironsides as ready for action, with masts and yards struck down.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 60273.    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    New Ironsides 121k Cyanotype reproduction of a 19th Century artwork, depicting USS New Ironsides off the Philadelphia Navy Yard during the Civil War era.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 60274.    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    New Ironsides
    098604519    		 188k Line engraving of USS New Ironsides published in Harper's Weekly, 1862, depicting the ship in fighting trim, with her masts and yards removed.
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 58742    		 Robert Hurst
    New Ironsides 187k Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume II, page 182, depicting USS New Ironsides as she appeared during most of her operational career, without sailing rig.
    US Navy History and Heritage Command photo # NH 58743.    		 US Navy History and Heritage Command
    New Ironsides
    098604522    		 72k Drawing by Fred S. Cozzens USS New Ironsides and USS Passaic published in "Our Navy Its Growth and Achievements", 1897, depicting the ships during the Civil War.
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 74548    		 Robert Hurst
    Galena 60k Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting several contemporary U.S. Navy ironclad and conventional warships. They are (from left to right: USS Puritan (in the original twin-turret design); USS Catskill; USS Montauk, USS Keokuk (citing her original name, "Moodna"); USS Passaic; USS Galena (behind Roanoke, with name not cited); USS Roanoke; .USS Winona; USS New Ironsides; USS Naugatuck; USS Brooklyn and USS Monitor.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 59541. Courtesy of Dr. Oscar Parkes, 1936.    		 Robert Hurst
    Keokuk 181k 1863 black and white in-text wood engraving of Union Navy Ironclad Steamers USS New Ironsides and USS Keokuk in company with monitors; USS Weehawken, USS Passaic, USS Patapsco, USS Catskill, USS Nantucket and USS Nahant, bombarding Confederate held Fort Sumter, South Carolina at the First Battle of Charleston Harbor, 7 April 1863 Tommy Trampp
    New Ironsides 147k "Charleston Harbor, Looking towards the City."
    Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, January-June 1863, pages 264-65, depicting the Federal fleet off the harbor mouth at the time of the ironclads' attack on Fort Sumter, 7 April 1863. U.S. Navy ships specifically identified include USS New Ironsides (second from left in the ironclad formation) and USS Keokuk (ironclad furthest to the right).
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59298    		 Robert Hurst
    New Ironsides 585k USS New Ironsides and two Ericsson batteries going into action at Charleston.
    "The Illustrated London News", 9 May 1863    		 Tommy Trampp
    New Ironsides 116k Currier & Ives lithograph hand colored Civil War Battle Scene depicting USS New Ironsides in the thick of battle in Charleston Harbor, 7 April 1863, surrounded by Union monitors. Tommy Trampp
    Keokuk 109k "A Panoramic View of Charleston Harbor. -- Advance of Ironclads to the Attack, April 7th, 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):
    USS Keokuk,
    USS Nahant,
    USS Nantucket,
    USS Catskill,
    USS New Ironsides,
    USS Patapsco,
    USS Montauk,
    USS Passaic and
    USS Weehawken
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59269    		 Robert Hurst
    New Ironsides
    098604517    		 178k Tents and soldiers on beach of Morris Island, 7 September 1863, while in the distance, ironclads, including USS New Ironsides and five monitor-class warships are in action against Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor.
    "99 Historic Images of Civil War Charleston", ed. by Garry Adelman, John Richter, and Bob Zeller, Center for Civil War Photography, 2009, p. 18.    		 Robert Hurst
    New Ironsides 130k An 1878 magazine engraving of a Confederate torpedo boat attempting to blow up USS New Ironsides in the harbor at Charleston, S.C., 5 October 1863. Tommy Trampp
    New Ironsides
    098604516    		 103k CSS David attacking USS New Ironsides, 5 October 1863, in the harbor at Charleston, S.C. The torpedo boat approached undetected. Her spar torpedo detonated under the starboard quarter of New Ironsides, throwing a high column of water which rained back upon CSS David and put out her boiler fires.
    City of Art web site    		 Robert Hurst
    New Ironsides
    098604520    		 69k Ships of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron departing Hampton Roads, VA., en route to attack Fort Fisher, N.C., in December 1864. The ships present are (from left to right): A twin-turret monitor, probably USS Monadnock; USS New Ironsides and a steam sloop of war. This image is cropped from Photo # NH 1557.
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 1557-A    		 Robert Hurst
    Maumee 94k "Bombardment of Fort Fisher" "Jan. 15th 1865"
    Lithograph after a drawing by T.F. Laycock, published by Endicott & Co., New York, 1865, depicting the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron bombarding Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in preparation for its capture. The print is dedicated to Commodore S.W. Godon, USN. Ships present, as named on the original print, are (from left to right in the main battle line):
    USS Tacony;
    USS Maumee;
    USS Ticonderoga;
    USS Shenandoah;
    USS Tuscarora;
    USS Juniata;
    USS Wabash;
    USS Susquehanna;
    USS Colorado;
    USS Minnesotaa;
    USS Brooklyn;
    USS New Ironsides and
    USS Mohican.
    Ships in the foreground are (left to right, from the center of the view):
    USS Powhatan;
    USS Mackinaw;
    USS Vanderbilt and
    USS Malvern (Flagship of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter).
    Monitors in the right middle distance are:
    USS Monadnock (with two turrets);
    USS Mahopac;
    USS Saugus and
    USS Canonicus.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # LC-USZ62-144 from the collections of the Library of Congress.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Malvern 83k Capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, 15 January 1865.
    Watercolor by eyewitness Ensign John W. Grattan, of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's staff, depicting Porter's fleet bombarding the fort prior to the ground assault. Side-wheel steamer in the right foreground is Porter's flagship, USS Malvern. USS New Ironsides and USS Monadnock are in the right distance.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 50468-KN (Color). Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Grattan Collection.    		 Robert Hurst
    Malvern 79k Capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, 15 January 1865.
    Watercolor by eyewitness Ensign John W. Grattan, of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's staff, depicting the storming of the fort, as the bombarding fleet stands offshore. Side-wheel steamer in the center, flying signal flags, is Porter's flagship, USS Malvern. USS New Ironsides is at right.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 50467-KN (Color). Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Grattan Collection.    		 Robert Hurst
    New Ironsides
    098604521    		 74k 19th-Century painting, by an unidentified artist, depicting U.S. Navy ironclads bombarding Fort Fisher during one of the two assaults that ended in its capture. Twin-turret monitor in the center foreground is USS Monadnock. Large broadside ironclad beyond is USS New Ironsides. The three single-turret monitors are USS Canonicus, USS Mahopac and USS Saugus
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 42240    		 Robert Hurst
    USS New Ironsides
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CAPT. Turner, Thomas COMO21 August 1862 - 14 July 1863
    02CAPT. Rowan, Stephen C. 20 July 1863 - 24 June 1864
    03COMO. Radford, William25 August 1864 - 2 January 1865
    04LCDR. Phythian, Robert L.2 January 1865 - 6 April 1865
    Courtesy Bill Gonyo
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    Last Updated 22 October 2021