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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

Hero (III)
ex
 USS Casco (1864 - 1869)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Casco Class Light-draft Monitor:
  • Built in 1863-64 by Atlantic Iron Works, Boston MA.
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Completed, 25 June 1864, converted to a torpedo vessel, without turret or heavy guns
  • Commissioned, USS Casco, 4 December 1864, Acting Master C. A. Crooker in command
  • Assigned to Hampton Roads in March 1865 after additional yard work
  • Reassigned to the Potomac Flotilla, April 1865
  • Decommissioned, 10 June 1865, at Washington Navy Yard
  • Renamed Hero in 1869
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Final Disposition, broken up in April 1875
    Specifications:
    Displacement 614 t.
    Length 208' 9"
    Beam 37'
    Draft 6' 6"
    Speed unknown
    Complement 69
    Armament
    two guns
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Casco 231k USS Casco on the James River, VA., near Dutch Gap, 1864-1865, while serving as a spar torpedo vessel. Note the torpedo gear mounted on her bow and the XI-inch Dahlgren smoothbore gun pivot-mounted on deck. Note also crewman raising the flag at vessels bow. US National Archives ARC Identifier 530265 Bill Gonyo and Robert Hurst
    Casco 100k Watercolor by Oscar Parkes, depicting USS Casco as she appeared in 1864-1865, while serving as a torpedo vessel on the James River, VA.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 55204. Courtesy of Dr. Oscar Parkes, 1936.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Casco 82k USS Casco (center) and other Union warships on the James River, Virginia, near Dutch Gap, about 1865. Moored beyond her are at least four "Double-ender" paddle-wheel gunboats, two screw gunboats and two monitors, plus (to the left) a variety of civilian steamers and sailing vessels. Photographed by the Matthew Brady organization.
    US National Archives Photo # 111-B-5374    		 Robert Hurst
    Casco 167k Plan of the spar torpedo arrangement and platform designed for installation on the;
    USS Casco
    USS Chimo
    USS Napa
    USS Naubuc and
    USS Modoc, circa 1864. The original drawing is in the records of the Bureau of Ships at the U.S. National Archives. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Photo # NH 55203.    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Casco (I)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Casco-class monitor
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 10 June 2016