U.S.S. Miantonomoh

here is the double turreted Monitor USS Miantonomoh. commissioned at the end of the Civil War she never saw battle but had quite a career nevertheless. Miantonomoh made a cruise to all the major European nations in 1866. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox went on the cruise. Monitors were not really good seagoing vessels as they were meant mostly for coastal defense and riverine warfare. thus the Miantonomoh was towed most of the way by an ocean going ship. still this class of Monitor were some of the most powerful warships in the world at the time. each turret contained two 15" Dahlgren smoothbore cannon. these weapons could heave an iron shot weighing in the neighborhood of 500lb. somewhat more than a mile. one effective method of shooting was to skip the ball across the water like a thrown stone and into the target if the gunners were good at their aim. Miantonomoh was successful in impressing the Europeans with the power and modernity of the US Navy at the time. shortly after however the USN sank into the doldrums of congressional unconcern and was allowed to run down to the point it was the laughingstock of all the world's major navies until well into the 1890's.