USS Passaic (1862)
| | Career | |
|---|
| Built: | Continental Iron Works |
| Purchased: |
| Launched: | 30 August 1862 |
| Commissioned: | 25 November 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | 11 September 1898 |
| Fate: | Sold, 10 October 1899 |
| Struck: |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 1355 tons |
| Length: | 200 ft (61 m) |
| Beam: | 46 ft (14 m) |
| Draft: | 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Speed: | 7 kts (13 km/h) |
| Range: |
| Complement: | 85 officers and men |
| Armament: | 1 15" D. sb.; 1 11" D. sb. |
The first
Passaic was a single turreted, coastal
monitor in the
United States Navy.
Passaic was built by
Continental Iron Works,
Greenport,
New York, under subcontract from
John Ericsson, was launched
30 August 1862; and commissioned
25 November 1862, Captain
Percival Drayton in command.
Two days later the new monitor departed
New York and joined the
North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at
Hampton Roads on the 29th but was immediately sent to the
Washington Navy Yard for repairs. There
President Abraham Lincoln visited the ship with members of his cabinet 6 December. After returning to Hampton Roads on the 26th,
Passaic, towed by
State of Georgia, got underway three days later with
Monitor, towed by
Rhode Island, heading for
Beaufort, North Carolina. Encountering bad weather off
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, she leaked badly and was forced to work her pumps and throw all shot overboard to remain afloat, but she reached Beaufort on New Year's Day 1863.
Monitor foundered during the storm.
Anchoring off
Port Royal, South Carolina, on 21 January, she proceeded to
Wassaw Sound. On 23 February with
Marblehead,
Passaic captured
schooner Glide laden with cotton. With her sister monitors,
Passaic attacked
Fort McAllister to test her fighting capabilities in action. On 7 April, she took part in Rear Admiral
Samuel F. Du Pont's attack on
Charleston, South Carolina. Severely battered during the engagement, she returned to New York and decommissioned for repairs 12 May.
Recommissioned 19 July,
Passaic arrived off
Morris Island in Charleston Harbor on the 25th, and took part in all operations against that place. Rear Admiral
John A. Dahlgren used her as his
flagship during the attack on
Fort Moultrie, and she assisted in rescuing
Lehigh when that monitor ran aground under the fire of Fort Moultrie.
On 16 June 1865,
Passaic decommissioned at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard and was laid up there from 1866 to 1874. Repaired during the following year, she recommissioned in Hampton Roads, 24 November 1876. From 1878 to 1882 she served as
receiving ship at
Washington, D.C. From 1883 to 1892 she was stationed at the
Naval Academy,
Annapolis, Maryland, and from 1893 to 1894 at the
Navy Yard,
Boston, Massachusetts. During 1895 and 1896 she was loaned to the
Massachusetts Naval Militia and during the next two years to the
Naval Militia at
Brunswick, Georgia.
On 16 May 1898
Passaic was again recommissioned, assigned to the
Naval Auxiliary Force and sent to
Key West and
Pensacola, Florida. She was decommissioned at the
Pensacola Navy Yard in Pensacola on
11 September 1898, and sold to
Frank Samuels on
10 October 1899.
See
USS Passaic for other ships of this name.
*
history.navy.mil: USS Passaic*
navsource.org: USS Passaic *
hazegray.org: USS Passaic 
