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Photo # NH 48105:  USS Roanoke at the New York Navy Yard, probably after decommissioning in June 1865.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Roanoke (1857-1883) -- As an Ironclad

Between late March 1862 and June 1863, the steam frigate Roanoke was cut down to her gun deck and rebuilt as a triple-turret armored warship. It was originally expected that this work would produce a seagoing ironclad ram in minimal time, but problems with armor supply and fabrication slowed her conversion considerably. Commissioned in late June 1863 and sent to Hampton Roads, Virginia, to rejoin the blockade, her voyage southward convincingly demonstrated that she was unsuitable for fighting on the opean ocean.

Roanoke was therefore employed in the defenses of Hampton Roads. While her deep draft restricted her to the main shipping channels, her six heavy guns provided a final barrier in case the Confederate ironclads on the James River should break out. Following the end of the war, she was sent to New York, where she was decommissioned in June 1865. Despite her flaws, Roanoke lasted for nearly two more decades. Though most of this time was spent laid up "in ordinary", she was commissioned for harbor service during 1874-75. USS Roanoke was finally stricken from the Navy list in August 1882 and sold for scrapping in September 1883.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Roanoke as an ironclad.

For pictures related to this ship before her conversion to a triple-turret ironclad, see:

  • USS Roanoke (1857-1883).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 48105

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    At the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn New York, probably following her decommissioning in June 1865.
    The ship of the line in the left background is USS Vermont, which was receiving ship at the Navy Yard until September 1865.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 430 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 57813

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Sepia wash drawing by R.G. Skerrett, 1899, depicting the ship underway after her conversion to an ironclad, circa 1863-65.

    Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 405 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 59548

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Watercolor by Oscar Parkes, depicting the ship after she was converted to an ironclad, circa 1863-1865.

    Courtesy of Dr. Oscar Parkes, London, England, 1936.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 48KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42276

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Lithograph published during the Civil War era, depicting the ship after her conversion to an ironclad.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 430 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 60891

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Lithograph by Endicott and Company, New York, depicting the ship after conversion to an ironclad, circa 1863.

    Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 495 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42277

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Civil War era lithograph, depicting the ship after her conversion to an ironclad.

    Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution, from the Skerrett Collection, Bethlehem Steel Corporation Archives.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 435 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 61426

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 3 February 1866 as part of a larger print entitled "The Iron-clad Navy of the United States.
    Originally built as a steam frigate, this ship was converted to a triple-turret ironclad in 1862-63.
    See Photo # NH 73986 for the complete print.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 395 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 50462

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Lithograph depicting the ship during the final stages of her conversion from a steam frigate to a triple-turret ironclad, at the Novelty Iron Works, New York City, circa the first half of 1863.
    The original drawing of the scene was done by G. Hayward for "Valentine's Manual", 1863.
    Note the large derrick at left, and the Novelty Works' building at right.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 525 pixels

     


    The following views of USS Roanoke are inaccurate, generally grossly so:

    Photo #: NH 58732

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting the configuration of the ship as converted to a triple-turret ironclad.
    This view, made during the early stages of the conversion, is inaccurate in several ways, not least the location of the smokestack between the second and third turrets, rather than between the first and second.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 370 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 58752

    U.S. Navy Warships, 1862


    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting several contemporary U.S. Navy ironclad and conventional warships. They are (from left to right: Puritan (in the original twin-turret design); Catskill; Montauk, Keokuk (citing her original name, "Woodna"); Passaic; Galena (behind Roanoke, with name not cited); Roanoke; Winona; New Ironsides; Naugatuck; Brooklyn and Monitor.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 250 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 58733

    USS Roanoke
    (1857-1883)

    Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting the configuration of the ship as converted to an ironclad.
    This view, published early in the conversion process, is extremely inaccurate, showing the ship with only two turrets rather than three. Turrets are also shown considerably larger than they actually were.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 275 pixels

     

    For pictures related to this ship before her conversion to a triple-turret ironclad, see:

  • USS Roanoke (1857-1883).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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    Page made 15 February 2002