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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 59549:  USS Dictator.  Artwork by Oscar Parkes

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

USS Dictator (1864-1883)

USS Dictator, a 4438-ton single-turret seagoing monitor built at New York City, was commissioned in November 1864. Construction problems with her powerplant kept her initial service relatively brief and inactive, and she was decommissioned in September 1865 at the League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dictator was recommissioned in July 1869 for service with the North Atlantic Fleet, but was again laid up in June 1871. Her final period of commissioned service service lasted from January 1874 until June 1877 and was also spent in the Atlantic coast area. After six years "in ordinary" at League Island, USS Dictator was sold for scrapping in September 1883.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Dictator (1864-1883).


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 59549

USS Dictator
(1864-1883)

Watercolor by Oscar Parkes.

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

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 435 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54512

USS Dictator
(1864-1883)

Lithograph depicting the ship at sea, published circa 1865.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 60KB; 740 x 365 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 58719

USS Dictator
(1864-1883)

Line engraving, published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War", Volume II, page 226.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 230 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 61411

USS Dictator
(1864-1883)

Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 3 February 1866 as part of a larger print entitled "The Iron-clad Navy of the United States.
See Photo # NH 73986 for the complete print.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 300 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54513

USS Dictator
(1864-1883)

Line engraving, published circa 1865.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 445 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 73617

USS Dictator
(1864-1883)

View on deck, looking aft on the starboard side, while the ship was off an east coast Navy yard, circa the 1870s.
Note the elevated wooden wheelhouse atop the turret.
The original photograph is the right side of a stereograph pair published by the Littleton View Company, Littleton, New Hampshire, under the title "Man of War".
This view was taken at the same time as Photo # NH 93871, from the opposite end of the ship. Some of the same people are visible in both photographs.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 100KB; 620 x 675 pixels

A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 73617-A

Online Image of stereo pair: 73KB; 675 x 350 pixels

Note:
This photograph was previously cataloged in our records as probably representing USS Miantonomoh. However, it has been conclusively identified as showing USS Dictator.

 
Photo #: NH 93871

USS Dictator
(1864-1883)

View on deck, looking forward on the starboard side, while the ship was off an east coast Navy yard, circa the 1870s.
Note the lightweight "flying deck" and bridge wings, wooden pilothouse mounted atop the gun turret, muzzle of a XV-inch Dahlgren gun visible in the turret gunport, davits, stanchions, and wooden boxes on deck.
The original photograph is the left side of a stereograph pair published by G.W. Woodward, Rochester, New York.
This view was taken at the same time as Photo # NH 73617, from the opposite end of the ship. Some of the same people are visible in both photographs.

Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1982.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 120KB; 630 x 675 pixels

A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 93871-A

Online Image of stereo pair: 76KB; 675 x 370 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102414

New London Naval Station, Groton, Connecticut

("Thames Navy Yard")

USS Nevada (ex-Neshaminy) laid up at the station pier, circa 1871-1873, with USS Dictator "in ordinary" at the right.
The original photograph was published as a stereograph pair by E. Ayer, Norwich, Connecticut.

Courtesy of the Submarine Force Library and Museum, Groton, CT., 1990.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 53KB; 740 x 430 pixels

See Photo # NH 102414 (cropped) for an enlarged view of the left half of this stereograph pair.

 
Photo #: NH 96670

USS Dictator
(1864-1883)

Engraved plan of the ship's transverse section amidships, through the center of her gun turret.
Published in "The Artizan", 1 October 1867.
Note the XV" Dahlgren smoothbore gun in the turret, turret training gears, and the laminated iron armor on Dictator's hull, turret and conning tower.

Courtesy of the Navy Department Library, 1990.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 113KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 


Note: In addition to the views presented above, the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia, holds a photograph probably taken at the time of USS Dictator's launching, at the Delameter Iron Works, New York, N.Y., on 26 December 1863.
It was taken from off the ship's stern, somewhat to port, while she was still on the building ways. Several persons, some in uniform, are standing on the ship and on the ground by her. Dictator's iron hull plating, balanced rudder and four-bladed propeller are clearly seen.

For additional information on this item, the availability of reproductions and usage rights, contact the Mariners Museum. Its WEB site can be readily found through standard Internet search engines.


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


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Page made 1 February 2002
New image added 16 April 2003