U.S.S. Katahdin (1896)
Wartime portrait of the Katahdin. Click here to enlarge.
An armored ram of the U.S. Navy, USS Katahdin was intended for harbor defense. The concept was that fleets of rams would lurk in American ports and dart out to ram and sink enemy warships already disabled by coastal artillery. However, defensive strategy was re-thought during her lengthy construction period and the Katahdin proved to be a one-off rather than prototype of a mighty fleet. Like most armored rams of the 19th century, she proved too slow to be a genuine threat as a warship; but as a semi-submersible vessel and forerunner of the submarine she is of considerable historical interest. The vessel was constructed at Bath Iron Works, one of the first three ships built at that yard for the USN, launched in 1893 and commissioned early 1896. She was designed to ride with her bow awash, only the bridge works, vents, davits and stack showing above the waves, rather like the Davids of Civil War fame; hence her nickname, "Old Half-Seas Under." 6-2" armor plate covered her whaleback decks. Her conning tower carried 9" of Harvey armor. On trials, the ship proved unable to make her design speed of 17 kts, and the Navy refused delivery. A year or more of litigation ensued. When it was proven in court that the ship's slowness was due to the Navy's design and not to shoddy work by the yard, the Navy was forced to accept her and pay for her.
Decommissioned in 1897, Katahdin recommissioned in spring of 1898 for the war then brewing. She was touted during the Spanish-American War as America's first line of defense, attached to the North Atlantic Squadron. The yellow press played the fear card shamelessly in the early days of the war, and Katahdin and the cruiser Columbia were dispatched to ensure that Boston Brahmins' summer homes would not be at risk. Should the Spanish fleet show up to shell Swampscott, nuke Nahant, or bombard Beantown, they would find Boston's "Gold Coast" securely guarded by a 16-knot ram, one 20-knot commerce raider, and a few 20-year-old monitors. Never mind that the Spanish Navy's single battleship, the French-built Pelayo, remained safely at Cádiz nearly the entire brief conflict, or that the decrepit Spanish fleet was badly outclassed by America's all-steel "New Navy." Katahdin spent the war cruising up and down the eastern seaboard from Nantucket to Cape Ann, reassuring the population and deterring any notion of aggression against the coastal cities.
The innovative, but strange Katahdin was obsolescent when designed (emulating British harbor rams of the 1870s-80s) and downright obsolete by the time she hit the waves in 1896. Following the war, she was decommissioned in October 1898. Eleven years later she was struck from the Navy List and designated a target. In that capacity, Katahdin was sunk off Rappahannock Spit, Virginia in the autumn of 1909.
Specifications
Specifications for the Katahdin:
Dimensions: 250'9" x 43'5" x 15'1" Displacement: 2,155 tons. Armament: (4) 6-pounder rifles. Cast steel ram. Armor: 6/2" deck/belt armor; 9" Harvey plate on conn. Propulsion: Coal-fired boilers, (2) VTE shafted to twin screw. Speed: 16 kts. Crew: 97.
Dimensions: 76m x 13.2m x 4.6m Displacement: 2,155 tons. Armament: (4) 76 mm rifles. Cast steel ram. Armor: 152/50 mm deck/belt armor; 229 mm Harvey plate on conn. Propulsion: Coal-fired boilers, (2) VTE shafted to twin screw. Speed: 29.6 km/hr. Crew: 97.
A Katahdin Keepsake
Feb. 4, 1893 was a snowy day in Maine, and Katahdin sat poised for launch on the ways at Bath Iron Works. The ship's huge ram stands out well, and the shape of the underwater hull is revealed in all its Victorian voluptuousness.
The ship took nearly three years after launch to complete and then go through several refits in the prolonged process of being accepted. Here she is fitting out at BIW, circa 1894.
Three years and a lawsuit later, she was commissioned in time for war. A patriotic postcard features her CO, Commander Richard P. Leary, in dashing form.
This closeup shows detail on the hull: the steps embedded to make access easier, the forward 6-pdr, cleats and bitts jutting out at odd angles from the curved deck, the fairy ring of ventilators around the funnel, the gleaming binnacles and telegraphs on the navigation bridge, the high spirits of the crew. Clearly this was a vessel intended to run nearly awash.
Another view of Katahdin in habor. Steam blowing out of the forward steam-pipe or whistle masks the top of the funnel.
How most blue-water sailors would rather remember her. Katahdin in a watercolor by an American bluejacket, signed "Ray 1898" in the corner.
1:350 Model of Katahdin from Iron Shipwright, showing the ship's submarine-like lines. Click here for enlarged view.
