View source for USS Keokuk (1862)

{{Short description|Iron-clad screw steamer belonging to United States Navy}}
{{other ships|USS Keokuk}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2015}}
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|Ship image= [[File:USS Keokuk h59546.jpg|300px|border|alt=USS ''Keokuk'']]
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1861}}
|Ship name= USS ''Keokuk''
|Ship namesake=[[Keokuk, Iowa|City of Keokuk]]
|Ship ordered= March 1862
|Ship builder= Charles W. Whitney, [[New York City]]
|Ship laid down= 1862
|Ship launched= December 6, 1862
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|Ship commissioned= March 1863
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|Ship fate= Sunk, April 8, 1863
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship type= [[Casemate ironclad]]
|Ship displacement= {{convert|677|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship length={{convert|159|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|36|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft= {{convert|8|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship propulsion=Two 250 hp two-cylinder [[steam engines]], 2 screws of 7-foot, 6-inch diameter
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|Ship speed= {{convert|9|kn|lk=in}}
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|Ship complement=92 officers and men
|Ship armament=*2 × {{convert|11|in|mm|abbr=on}} smoothbore 11-inch [[Dahlgren gun]]s
*[[Naval ram|Ram bow]]
|Ship armor=Alternating horizontal 1 in x 4 in iron bars and yellow pine slats, sheathed with layers of 1/2 in iron plates with a total hull thickness of {{convert|5.75|in|mm|abbr=on}}
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'''USS ''Keokuk''''' was an experimental ironclad screw steamer of the [[United States Navy]] named for the city of [[Keokuk, Iowa]].  She was laid down in [[New York City]] by designer Charles W. Whitney at J.S. Underhill Shipbuilders, at the head of 11th Street. She was originally named ''Moodna'' (sometimes incorrectly spelled "''Woodna''"), but was renamed while under construction, [[ship naming and launching|launched]] in December 1862 sponsored by Mrs. C. W. Whitney, wife of the builder, and [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] in early March 1863 with Commander [[Alexander Rhind|Alexander C. Rhind]] in command.

==Design==
''Keokuk'' was one of the first warships to be of completely iron construction, with wood used only for deck planks and filler in the armor cladding. Her hull construction consisted of five iron box keelsons and one hundred 1-inch-thick (some sources report the thickness as 3/4 inch) by 4-inch-deep iron frames spaced 18 inches between centers. The frames included integral iron cross beams for the decks, with no transverse wood timbers as used on the ''Monitor''. Her bow and stern sections were flooding spaces to allow raising and lowering her waterline.

Her two stationary, conical gun towers, each pierced with three gun ports, housed one 11-inch [[Dahlgren gun#Dahlgren shell guns|Dahlgren shell gun]] each on a shortened and rounded rotating wooden slide carriage (the tower shape often causing her to be mistaken for a double-turreted monitor). Her tower and casemate armor was made up from 1-inch-thick by 4-inch-deep horizontal iron bars alternating with planks of yellow pine of the same dimensions, sheathed with layers of overlapping, flush-bolted {{Frac|1|2}}-inch rolled iron plates. A total thickness of this composite armor, including the hull skin proper, was 5.75 inches (146&nbsp;mm).<ref>Canney,</ref>  The deck was made of 5-inch wood planks overlaid with {{Frac|1|2}}-inch-thick iron plate.<ref>Scientific American, December 20, 1862</ref> She had two twin-cylinder main propulsion engines, each 250&nbsp;hp. In total, ''Keokuk'' had nine steam engines providing power to various systems.<ref>{{cite book|title=Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862|year=1863|publisher=D. Appleton & Company|location=New York|page=613|url=https://archive.org/stream/1862appletonsan02newyuoft#page/n619/mode/1up}}</ref>

==Service history==

{{Expand section| history for 1863|date=February 2013}}
[[File:usskeokuk.jpg|300px|thumb|USS ''Keokuk'' in the ways before launching]]
The new ironclad departed New York on March 11, 1863 and steamed south to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron for the attack on [[Charleston, South Carolina]], and arrived at [[Newport News, Virginia]], two days later. She got underway again on March 17 but returned to [[Hampton Roads]] for repairs when her port propeller became fouled in a buoy anchor line. She stood out of Hampton Roads again on March 22 and arrived at [[Port Royal, South Carolina]] on March 26. A soldier who saw the ''Keokuk'' wrote of her in a letter home: "...The iron clad battery Keokuk steamed by me yesterday and I have heard that she was bound to Charleston S.C. It was a curious looking affair I assure you it had two turrets with two guns [sic] in each. It looked a little like this [reasonably accurate sketch in letter] but of course I am not an artist..."<ref>Jack S Powers in a letter to Nellie Williams of Framingham Massachusetts, on board the Union transport DeWitt Clinton, Fort Monroe Virginia, March 23, 1863</ref>

As the day of attack on Charleston approached, ''Keokuk'' and {{USS|Bibb|1853|6}} were busy laying buoys to guide Rear Admiral [[Samuel Francis Du Pont]]'s ironclad flotilla, which included {{USS|New Ironsides|1862|6}}, seven monitors (''[[USS Weehawken (1862)|Weehawken]]'', ''[[USS Passaic (1862)|Passaic]]'', ''[[USS Montauk (1862)|Montauk]]'', ''[[USS Patapsco (1862)|Patapsco]]'', ''[[USS Catskill (1862)|Catskill]]'', ''[[USS Nantucket (1862)|Nantucket]]'', and ''[[USS Nahant (1862)|Nahant]]''), and ''Keokuk'', into the strongly fortified Confederate harbor. The Union ships crossed the [[Stono Bar]] on April 6 but were prevented from attacking that day by hazy weather which obscured targets and blinded pilots.

The [[First Battle of Charleston Harbor]] began at noon on April 7, but difficulties in clearing [[naval mine|torpedo]]es from the path of Du Pont's ironclads slowed their progress.  Shortly after 3&nbsp;p.m., they came within range of [[Fort Moultrie]] and [[Fort Sumter]]; and the battle began. Southern obstructions and a strong flood tide made the ironclads virtually unmanageable, while accurate fire from the forts played upon them at will. With the Union formation scrambled, ''Keokuk'' was compelled to run ahead of crippled {{USS|Nahant|1862|6}} to avoid her in the narrow channel after ''Nahant''{{'}}s pilot was killed and helmsman wounded by a Confederate shot striking the pilothouse. This brought her less than 600 yards (550 m) from Fort Sumter, where she remained for half an hour receiving the undivided attention of the Confederate cannons.
[[File:Gun battery, Fort Sumter (13147754703).jpg|thumb|The Gun battery at Fort Sumter responsible for the ''Keokuk'''s sinking]]
[[File:USS_Keokuk_sinking_1863.JPG|thumb|''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' illustration from 1863 of USS&nbsp;''Keokuk'' sinking.]]
''Keokuk'' was struck by about ninety projectiles, many of which hit at or below her waterline. Commander Rhind reported his ship as being hit by a combination of [[solid shot]], bolts, and possibly [[heated shot]]. As predicted by her chief engineer, her thin composite armor was completely inadequate to protect her from this onslaught and she was "completely riddled" in the words of Commander Rhind. However, she was able to withdraw under her own power and anchor out of range, thanks in part to the skills of her Black pilot, [[Robert Smalls]], a former slave and pilot of CSS ''Planter''. Her crew kept her afloat through the night, but when a breeze came up on the morning of  April 8, 1863, ''Keokuk'' began taking on more water, filled rapidly, and sank off Morris Island. She had given one month of commissioned service. One of ''Keokuk'''s sailors, Quartermaster [[Robert Anderson (sailor)|Robert Anderson]], was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] in part for his actions during the battle.<ref name="citation">{{cite web |title=Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients (A–L) |work=Medal of Honor Citations |publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History |date=August 6, 2009 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html |access-date=April 23, 2010 |archive-date=September 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902081051/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In all, 14 of ''Keokuk''{{'}}s crew were injured in the battle, including Captain Rhind with a contusion to his leg. Acting Ensign Mackintosh, one of the gun captains, later died from his wounds.<ref>New York Times, Battle of Charleston, April 12, 1863</ref>

== Salvage of ''Keokuk'' guns ==

A Federal survey of the wreck shortly after the battle determined that the ''Keokuk'' could not be refloated or destroyed, as she was almost completely filled with sand. The two 11-inch Dahlgren guns could be easily replaced from stockpiles and were abandoned as unsalvageable.

To Confederate forces, these two guns represented an opportunity to obtain badly needed artillery. The Confederacy possessed only 150 to 200 naval and coastal defense guns, none of them as large as the sunken Dahlgrens.  [[P.G.T. Beauregard]], commander of the Charleston defenses, authorized an immediate salvage operation led by a civilian, Adolphus W. LaCoste. A modified lightship, ''Rattlesnake Shoals'', was towed into place as a salvage platform. To avoid attracting the attention of Union forces, work was done at night, during low tide, with the Confederate ironclads ''Palmetto State'' and ''Chicora'' providing protection. The Union did not suspect this activity until it was announced in the Charleston ''Mercury'' after the guns were recovered.

The ''Keokuk'' guns served the Confederacy for the remainder of the war. One was destroyed, probably during the evacuation of Charleston in 1865. The other gun tube can still be seen on the Charleston waterfront at White Point Garden, mounted on an incorrect iron fortress carriage.<ref>Browning, ''Success is all that was expected,'' p. 208.</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Poore|first=Devin|title=Raiding the Keoku|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/raiding-the-keokuk/|access-date=May 25, 2013|newspaper=New York Times|date=May 24, 2013}}</ref> In the image, the ''Keokuk'' gun is in the background.[[File:Battery- abt 1910 -Keokuk gun.jpg|thumb|Dahlgren gun from USS ''Keokuk'', Charleston East Battery, about 1880 to 1910|center]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/k3/keokuk-i.htm}}
* Coker, P. C., III. Charleston's Maritime Heritage, 1670–1865: An Illustrated History. Charleston, S.C.: Coker-Craft, 1987. 314 pp.
* Browning, Robert M. Jr., ''Success is all that was expected: the South Atlantic blockading squadron during the Civil War.''  Washington, D.C. : Brassey’s, 2002. {{ISBN|1-57488-514-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Canney|first=Donald L.|title=The Old Steam Navy: The Ironclads, 1842–1885|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1993|volume=2|isbn=0-87021-586-8}}
* {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Olmstead|first1=Edwin|last2=Stark|first2=Wayne E.|last3=Tucker|first3=Spencer C.|year=1997|title=The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon|publisher=Museum Restoration Service|location=Alexandria Bay, New York|isbn=0-88855-012-X}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/k3/keokuk-i.htm|title=''Keokuk''|work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|publisher=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] (NH&HC)|access-date=January 25, 2013}}
*{{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Civil War Navies 1855–1883|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=2006|series=The U.S. Navy Warship Series|isbn=0-415-97870-X}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|USS Keokuk (ship, 1862)}}
* [https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-navy-ships/alphabetical-listing/k/uss-keokuk--1863-0.html Photo gallery] at Naval Historical Center
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{{Union ironclads}}
{{1863 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keokuk}}
[[Category:Ironclad warships of the Union Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in New York City]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:1862 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in April 1863]]