LIGHT-DRAUGHT MONITORS.
“The next development of the craze was that of the so-called ‘Light-draught Monitors.’ These were intended to operate in Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and various other shallow waters in the South. Twenty of them were authorized, and we responded to the advertisement of them by bidding for one or more.
“It was found that, with the exception of Harlan & Hollingsworth, we were the lowest bidders. We were a little higher than Harlan & Hollingsworth, but the time in which we offered to build them was shorter than theirs.
“The government promptly gave us one and the Harlan yard one, and notified eighteen other bidders that they could have one each at the same price as ours, which amounted, as near as I can remember, to $350,000.
“Some of the bids ran as high as $750,000, and these bidders had some delicacy in accepting prices at one-half, because, to accept the contract at one-half, it would be an acknowledgment that they did not know what they were about, or that they were trying to rob the government.
“The fact is, that none of the bidders except Harlan & Hollingsworth and ourselves were ship-builders. They were in other lines of mechanical construction, and of course they did not have the slightest idea of what was to be done or what it would cost.
“The drawings on which the vessels were to be built were of the crudest character; only a midship section and one or two vague longitudinal sketches being furnished as a guide or basis of construction.
“Notwithstanding, as I said before, we were the lowest bidder, thereby saving millions of dollars to the government, only one was awarded to us. The balance was offered to the other bidders at our price, and the offer was accepted by most of them.
“Having received our contract, we promptly visited New York to get the details of construction and engines in order to begin work and procure materials. The demand for materials was greater than the supply, and all were in a feverish state of excitement. To get our orders out quickly, I immediately made application to Mr. Stimers for plans, and had a long and detailed conversation with him and Theodore Allen over what plans they had developed, and numerous alterations were made to the plans as drawn.
“Their first plan permitted the boilers to come within three and one-half inches of the bottom plating of the ship, practically landing the boilers on the three and one-half inch angle-bars, which had at that time no floors.
“I suggested in a rather strong way that this would not do, and after considerable discussion they concluded to make the vessels a little deeper, give the deck more spring, and put shallow floors in. Other important alterations were made as the work progressed.
“We would have had our vessel overboard first, but the northward march of General Lee previous to the battle of Antietem interfered with the furnishing of materials, and also with our own working force in the shipyard.
“Our employees, with those of the rolling-mills supplying materials near Philadelphia, organized themselves into military companies for the purpose of defence. Two companies were formed in our establishment.
“While these delays affected us, they did not interfere with the progress of the monitor which was building in Boston; but when this vessel was launched, she sank to the bottom from lack of buoyancy, and a halt was called on the nineteen other vessels.
“These vessels had been constructed on very vague plans and conditions. Mistakes were made in the original design, and weights added without investigating the correctness of the original sketch, which, with the so-called ‘calculations,’ were furnished by Mr. Ericsson; at least they had been examined, approved, and signed by him. They were not furnished to bidders.
“The day after this launch, the ‘Monitor Ring’ was in a state of collapse! Mr. Lenthall and Mr. Isherwood now reasserted their proper authority. They ordered Mr. Stimers and Mr. Allen to reduce the weights in the turrets, and wherever else it was possible to do so sufficiently to make the vessels float.
“These reductions in equipment, outfit, etc., were communicated to the builders at Chester, before they launched the ‘Tunxis’; but these vessels, by the reductions, were rendered entirely useless for their designed service, or any other.
“Finding that the Boston vessel and the ‘Tunxis,’ built at Chester, notwithstanding the alterations, lacked efficiency to a serious degree, they decided to rebuild most of the others by deepening them, and the whole matter was placed in my hands by Chief Engineer King, who with some others were designated by the Secretary of the Navy to investigate and prepare plans for the deepening, and to ascertain the cost of the alterations.
“After a careful investigation, I found it would be necessary to increase the depth of the hulls about thirty-three inches, involving the necessity of raising the solid oak decks to that extent with the hull proper, and the armor backing and armor which had to be taken off and replaced.
“A so-called expert was detailed to assist me in my calculations, but, having no use for him, I did not avail myself of his services.
CRUISERS PENNSYLVANIA AND COLORADO
“When I sent my plans and our price for the deepening of the vessel to the Secretary, he immediately awarded us the contract for deepening ours (the ‘Yazoo’), and accepted our price, and notified the eighteen other people that he would give them the same price for deepening theirs. The other contractors would not accept my price, and they denounced me for not having put a ‘higher price on the job,’ when I had the opportunity to do so. I told them that I had estimated that we would make 30 per cent. profit, and I contended that that was enough, notwithstanding we were under the influence of war prices, and that I had been delegated to do what I considered was right. In other words, I held that the Secretary had placed me upon honor.
“These eighteen other builders ultimately got higher prices than we did. They made all sorts of claims to the government through their representatives, and made life a burden to the Secretary by showing, or endeavoring to show, him that wages were higher everywhere else in the localities where these vessels were built than they were in Philadelphia.
“In fact, every one of the other builders ultimately received higher prices than we did, and later on some were awarded additional sums by act of Congress, notwithstanding that the drawings, specifications, plans, and designs for the alterations were made by me without pay! without even thanks!
“Subsequently the Department decided not to alter all alike, and about one-half of them were finished without the turrets, and the big guns were taken out, thereby relieving their builders of the necessity of making them deeper. The decks were finished, and they were designated as a sort of torpedo boat for harbor defence. These vessels, as altered according to my recommendations, would have been efficient factors in the operations in the southern waters if the war had not ended before they were finished.
“The ‘Sub-Department’ in New York, with all its investitures and appointments, was abandoned, and the Navy Department took up the monitor matter from that time onward. But the mischief had been done. The service had been debauched and the Treasury robbed of millions, which an intelligent policy from the start might have saved.
“During the alterations on the ‘Yazoo,’ the Chester light-draught monitor was sent to our place to be altered. Notwithstanding she had been finished with the reduced weights recommended by Mr. Stimers, she still continued defective, and was sent to our yard to be altered according to my new plan.
“As it was necessary to raise the turret in order to raise the deck, and as we were compelled to haul the vessel out of the water, we took the guns out of the turret and proceeded to remove it also. Hoisting out the guns was an easy accomplishment, but the removal of the turret was a difficult problem.
“At first sight, cutting out the rivets and bolts, taking apart and rebuilding it, appeared the most feasible. This, however, was an expensive transaction. After careful investigation, we concluded that it could be hauled off the ship on to the dock on sliding-ways if the work was done with the greatest rapidity with the best men at it. The removal of guns and turret to the dock was successfully accomplished.
“On account of the great cost due to occupying a dry-dock long enough to make the change, it was determined to haul her out on sliding-ways, reversing the process of launching, and that without using a coffer-dam for laying the ground-ways.
“The vessel was hauled out by the use of six 12-inch falls, two of which were attached to end of upper ways, two to a chain that passed around the stem extending to amidships, the ends lashed to the ship just above high-water mark, and the other two to holes in the bow made for the purpose.
“When the six large ‘crabs’ were started with all of the men that could be put on them, they never stopped until the vessel was entirely out of the water, taking a day and a night for the operation.
“This was by all odds the heaviest vessel ever hauled out on ways in this country, and, in view of the simplicity of its preparations and the limited cost, was one of the great achievements of the time occupied by the Civil War. But little or no notice was taken of it by the papers, as battles lost and won were the sensation of the day.
“While the craze for constructing monitors had possession of the country, the government built nothing else in the way of armored vessels.
“Mr. Lenthall and Mr. Isherwood, who was on Mr. Lenthall’s staff at that time, had no power to antagonize the monitor craze successfully, and a large one of wood was ordered to be built in each navy-yard, to be designed by the constructor of that particular yard as far as the hulls were concerned. But little money of the vast expenditures of the navy during the war was devoted to other iron-clad constructions than that of the monitor class.
“The ‘Miantonomah,’ which was one of these vessels built in one of the navy-yards and designed by the constructor at the navy-yard in which she was built, was sent to Russia under command of Commodore John Rodgers with Assistant Secretary Fox, as Special Envoy to convey to the Emperor certain congratulations. The idea was that the government of Russia would construct a number of large monitors. The trip, so far as that was concerned, was a failure. Commodore Rodgers, who went in command, was formerly in command of one of the original monitors which had been engaged in the contests before Charleston, and also in the Savannah sounds in the Civil War, and he was one of the strongest of the captains in favor of that type. As a rule, the captains and other officers were all adverse to them.
“While the Navy Department and Naval Committee of Congress were favorable to the monitor type, Messrs. Lenthall and Isherwood were against it; but they were very backward in doing or in recommending anything else, and permitted themselves to be overlooked. In view of this negligence on their part, it was argued that it was better to try to do something, even if it turned out wrong, than to do nothing at all.”