Naugatuck, 1862

March 1, 2021
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Naugatuck, 1862

a.k.a. E. A. Stevens 


Type/Rig/Class: Steamer

Builder: H. R. Dunham, New York

Dates of Service: 1862 - 1870 (?)

Disposition: ?

Displacement: 120 tons

Length: 101'

Beam: 21' 6"

Draft: 6' (9' with water ballast)

Machinery: 2-cylinder steam engine; twin screws

Complement: ?

Armament: 1 x 100-pounder Parrott rifle; 2 x 12-pounders


Cutter History:

One of the oddest looking acquisition ever made by the Revenue Marine was the Revenue Marine Steamer Naugatuck (also referred to as Ironside or E. S. Stevens in records).  She was built by H. R. Dunham of New York, possibly in 1844, and purchased by the Stevens family of Hoboken, New Jersey to test ideas for an ironclad, known as the "Steven's Battery," they were constructing.  They apparently donated the Naugatuck/E. S. Stevens  to the Revenue Marine on 12 March 1862.  

Of a radical design, she was a semi-submersible ironclad, needing only 15 minutes to take on enough water ballast to sink almost 3 feet.  Thus, she could enter battle with only her impenetrable turret mounting a 100-pounder rifled-Parrot gun above water.  Afterwards, she could pump the water overboard again in just eight minutes flat.

Being contemporary with the famous Monitor and Virginia, she was rushed south in hopes of tipping the balance in the Union's favor.  In her first action, she served as bait for a well-laid trap.  Her commanding officer, Lieutenant D. C. Constable, USRM, placed the Naugatuck within a quarter of a mile of the Confederate battery at Sewell's Point and bombarded it until, as planned, the Virginia steamed out to investigate.  Lieutenant Constable then slowly retired toward a squadron of U.S. Navy steamers, amidst which lurked the Monitor, in hopes of trapping and destroying the Confederate ironclad.  But the Virginia sensed danger, refused the bait, and retired.

When Norfolk fell two days later, on 10 May 1862, the Virginia was destroyed to prevent her falling into Union hands, and the James River was opened to the Federal fleet.  Hoping to beat the Army troops under General George B. McClellan into Richmond, the navy now took a chance by sending a naval assault flotilla up the James River to try to shell the Confederate capital into submission.  The Navy commander placed the USRM Naugatuck in the van, with the Monitor and the other Union ships strung out behind her, "on account of her submerging qualities and little draft of water, as in case of obstructions or torpedoes, she could, by pumping out, evade them and give warning of the danger to the rest of the fleet."  Just eight miles below the glittering prize, the squadron ran into a double barrier of "spiles, steamboats, and sail vessels" blocking the James River and guarded by a strong battery on Drewry's Bluff, supported by sharp-eyed marksmen in well-dug rifle pits.

The four-hour long duel between naval and shore guns was a waste of gunpowder as far as the attackers were concerned, for victory was not possible without the support of Union soldiers ashore.  When the USRM Naugatuck's Parrott gun exploded, "she continued in her position during the entire action, fighting her broadside guns."  Although the first Union attack on Richmond had failed, Lieutenant Constable could modestly, but proudly, report: "My officers and crew behaved to my entire satisfaction."  After being repaired, the USRM Naugatuck passed the remainder of the war guarding the approaches to New York City.

A 24 July 1863 entry in her logbook noted that "By order of Sect. Salmon P. Chase the present name of this vessel was changed and her former name, Naugatuck, readopted."

Her ultimate fate is unknown.


Revenue cutters in the Civil War.

A photograph of an engraving from Harper's Weekly of the unique revenue "ironclad" Naugatuck.  The engraving was first published in Harper's Weekly on 26 April 1862.  U.S. Navy photograph, released.


     Being contemporary with the famous Monitor and Virginia, she was rushed south in hopes of tipping the balance in the Union's favor.  In her first action, she served as bait for a well-laid trap.  Her commanding officer, Lieutenant D. C. Constable, USRM, placed the USRMS Naugatuck within a quarter of a mile of the Confederate battery at Sewell's Point and bombarded it until, as planned, the Virginia steamed out to investigate.  Lieutenant Constable then slowly retired toward a squadron of U.S. Navy steamers, amidst which lurked the Monitor, in hopes of trapping and destroying the Confederate ironclad.  But the Virginia sensed danger, refused the bait, and retired.


Revenue cutters in the Civil War.

Engraving showing the Naugatuck (center foreground) along with the USS Brooklyn and USS Monitor.


     When Norfolk fell two days later, on 10 May 1862, the Virginia was destroyed to prevent her falling into Union hands, and the James River was opened to the Federal fleet.  Hoping to beat the Army troops under General George B. McClellan into Richmond, the navy now took a chance by sending a naval assault flotilla up the James River to try to shell the Confederate capital into submission.  The Navy commander placed the Naugatuck in the van, with the Monitor and the other Union ships strung out behind her, "on account of her submerging qualities and little draft of water, as in case of obstructions or torpedoes, she could, by pumping out, evade them and give warning of the danger to the rest of the fleet."  Just eight miles below the glittering prize, the squadron ran into a double barrier of "spiles, steamboats, and sail vessels" blocking the James River and guarded by a strong battery on Drewry's Bluff, supported by sharp-eyed marksmen in well-dug rifle pits.

     The four-hour long duel between naval and shore guns was a waste of gunpowder as far as the attackers were concerned, for victory was not possible without the support of Union soldiers ashore.  When the Naugatuck's Parrott gun exploded, "she continued in her position during the entire action, fighting her broadside guns."  Although the first Union attack on Richmond had failed, Lieutenant Constable could modestly, but proudly, report: "My officers and crew behaved to my entire satisfaction."  After being repaired, the Naugatuck passed the remainder of the war guarding the approaches to New York City.


Revenue cutters in the Civil War.

Photograph of an engraving that illustrated the bombardment of Sewell's Point by Union vessels on 8 May 1862.  The cutter Naugatuck is the second vessel in line directly behind the USS Monitor, which is in the van.  U.S. Navy photograph of an engraving published in Fiveash's Virginia-Monitor Engagement, Norfolk, 1907.  Released.


After being repaired, she served as a guard ship at New York beginning in late 1862.  She then served at New Bern, North Carolina after the war.  

Her ultimate fate is unknown, however another vessel named Stevens was apparently built in Baltimore by the Revenue Marine and began service in 1872 at New Bern.


Sources:

Cutter History File.  U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office.

Donald Canney.  U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935.  Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.

Truman Strobridge. "The United States Coast Guard and the Civil War: The U.S. Revenue Marine, Its Cutters, and Semper Paratus." Washington, DC: USCG, 1972.

U.S. Coast Guard.  Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933.  Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).