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Uss New Ironsides (1862) | colspan=2 align="center"| | | tyle="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"|Career | style="background: navy"| | | rdered: | 16 September 1861 | | aid down: | 1861 | | aunched: | 10 May 1862 | | ommissioned: | 21 August 1862 | | ate: | destroyed by fire | | olspan="2" style="color: white; background: navy;"|General Characteristics | | isplacement: | 3486 tons | | ength: | 230 ft (70 m) | | eam: | 57 ft 6 in (17.5 m) | | raft: | 15 ft 8 in (4.8 m) | | epth of hold: | 23 ft (7.0 m) | | peed: | 8 knots (15 km/h) | | omplement: | 449 officers and men | | rmament: | 2 x 150-pounder Parrott rifles, 2 x 50-pounders and 14 x 11" Dahlgren smoothbore cannons | USS ''New Ironsides was a broadside ironclad United States Civil War ship, named in honor of USS Constitution, who earned the nickname "Old Ironsides" during her engagement with HMS Guerrire in the War of 1812. It was built in 1861 by Merrick & Sons at the C.H. and W.H. Cramp shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the last and largest of an initial group of three ocean-going ironclads ordered to meet the needs of the Civil War. Launched on May 10, 1862, it was commissioned in August that year. Following a lengthy fitting-out period, New Ironsides joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron on January 1863. New Ironsides'' operated in support of the blockade of Charleston, South Carolina for the rest of the year, and took part in several attacks on the Confederate fortifications protecting the city. New Ironsides's heavy broadside battery of eight heavy guns on each side, in addition to her armor protection, made her uniquely valuable for bombardment actions. The first bombardment operation took place on April 7, 1863, when nine Union ironclads entered Charleston harbor and conducted a prolonged, but inclusive, bombardment of Fort Sumter. New Ironsides was repeatedly hit by enemy cannon fire, but suffered no serious damaged, unlike several accompanying vessels. During the summer of 1863, New Ironsides battered Confederate positions in the successful campaign to take Fort Wagner on Morris Island; in the process the ship was the target of a spar torpedo boat attack on August 21. Another such attack by CSS David on the night of October 5, 1863 damaged the ironclad. The damage was insignificant, and she remained on station until May 1864 when she returned to Philadelphia for repairs and a general overhaul. With the completion of this work in late August 1864, New Ironsides was recommissioned and joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in October. She participated in a major assault in December on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in an effort to stop blockade running into the port of Wilmington. Though this attack was called off on Christmas Day after an extensive bombardment, the Union fleet returned to resume the operation on January 13, 1865. New Ironsides was one of several warships that heavily shelled Fort Fisher, preparing the way for a ground assault that captured the position on January 15. Afterwards New Ironsides supported Union activities in the Hampton Roads area for the next few months. She was decommissioned on April 7, 1865 and was laid up at at League Island, Philadelphia, where on December 16, 1866, USS New Ironsides was accidently destroyed by fire due to an unattended stove. New Ironsides
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