USS Benton
| |
| USS Benton | |
|---|---|
Career | |
| Type and class | Casemate ironclad gunboat |
| Authorized | 1860 (as civilian snagboat) |
| Shipyard | James B. Eads' shipyard St. Louis, Missouri |
| Keel laid | 1860 |
| Launched | 1861 |
| Commissioned | February 24, 1862 |
| Fate | Sold at public auction, November 29, 1865 |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 202 feet |
| Beam | 72 feet |
| Draft | 9 feet |
| Displacement | 1033 tons |
| Propulsion | Steam engine Centerline paddlewheel |
| Speed | 5.5 knots |
| Armament | Two 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbores Seven 32-pounder Dahlgren smoothbores Seven 42-pounder Parrott rifles |
| Compliment | 176 officers and men |
USS Benton, a 1033-ton ironclad river gunboat, was converted from a catamaran snagboat at Saint Louis, Missouri, for the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla. Commissioned in February 1862, she took an active part in the Federal operations to open the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In the Spring of 1862, she was present at the captures of Island Number Ten, Fort Pillow and Memphis. During the Summer, Benton was in action with the Confederate ironclad Arkansas near Vicksburg, Mississippi, and participated in an expedition up the Yazoo River. She was transferred to the Navy in October 1862, and continued her service as the Mississippi Squadron's flagship into 1863.
In December 1862, Benton was damaged by Confederate gunfire during another operation on the Yazoo River. She was one of the ships that ran past Vicksburg on 16 April 1863 and bombarded Grand Gulf, Mississippi, later in that month. She participated in an attack on Fort DeRussy, Arkansas, in May, then provided gunfire support for the siege of Vicksburg. In March-May 1864, Benton was involved in the Red River expedition, in Louisiana, and returned to that vicinity in June 1865 during operations that followed the formal end of the Civil War. USS Benton was decommissioned in July 1865 and sold the following November.
| ||||||||||||||
| Copyright Details | |
|---|---|
| License: | Some of this work is in the Public Domain because it is a work of an agency under the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the U.S. Code |
| Source: | File available from [1]. |
