 USSCairo at anchor | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Cairo |
| Namesake | City of Cairo, Illinois |
| Operator |  US Army |
| Ordered | August(?) 1861 |
| Builder | James Eads and Company,Mound City, Illinois |
| Laid down | 1861 |
| Launched | 1861 |
| Commissioned | 25 January 1862 |
| Fate | Transferred to theUS Navy |
| United States | |
| Name | Cairo |
| Commissioned | 1 October 1862 |
| Fate | Sunk by mine, 12 December 1862 |
| Status | Raised, 1964,museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | City-classironclad |
| Tonnage | 512 |
| Length | 175 ft (53.3 m) |
| Beam | 51 ft 2 in (15.6 m) |
| Draft | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
| Installed power | 5fire-tube boilers |
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 4knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) |
| Complement | 251 officers andenlisted men |
| Armament | (seesection below) |
| Armor |
|
USSCairo | |
   | |
| Coordinates | 32°22′33″N90°52′0″W / 32.37583°N 90.86667°W /32.37583; -90.86667 |
| Built | 1861 |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000068 |
| Added to NRHP | 3 September 1971 |
USSCairo/ˈkeɪroʊ/ is thelead ship of theCity-classcasemate ironclads built at the beginning of theAmerican Civil War to serve asriver gunboats.
Cairo is named forCairo, Illinois. In June 1862, she captured theConfederate garrison ofFort Pillow on theMississippi River, enablingUnion forces to occupyMemphis. As part of theYazoo Pass Expedition, she was sunk on 12 December 1862, while clearing mines for the attack onHaines Bluff.Cairo was the first ship ever to be sunk by amine remotely detonated by hand.
The remains ofCairo can be viewed atVicksburg National Military Park with a museum of its weapons and naval stores.
Cairo was built byJames Eads and Co.,Mound City, Illinois, in 1861, under contract to theUnited States Department of War. She was commissioned as part of theUnion Army'sWestern Gunboat Flotilla,[1] which hadUS NavyLieutenantJames M. Prichett in command.[2]
Cairo served with the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla on theMississippi andOhio Rivers, and their tributaries until she was transferred to the Navy on 1 October 1862, with the other river gunboats. She was commanded byFlag OfficerAndrew Hull Foote.[2]
Active in the occupation ofClarksville, Tennessee, 17 February 1862, and ofNashville, Tennessee, 25 February,Cairo stood down the river on 12 April, escortingmortar boats to begin the lengthy operations against Fort Pillow. An engagement with Confederate gunboats atPlum Point Bend on 11 May, marked a series of blockading and bombardment activities which culminated into the abandonment of the fort by its defenders on 4 June.[2]
On 6 June 1862, two days later,Cairo joined in the triumph of seven Union ships and a tug over eight Confederate gunboats off Memphis. Five of the opposing gunboats were sunk or run ashore during this action; two were seriously damaged, and one managed to escape. That night, Union forces occupied the city.Cairo returned to patrol on the Mississippi until 21 November, when she joined theYazoo Pass Expedition.[2]
On 12 December 1862, while clearing mines from the river, preparatory to the attack onHaines Bluff,Cairo struck a "torpedo"[2] (ornaval mine) detonated by volunteers hidden behind the river bank and sank in 12 minutes. There were no casualties.[3]
Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads,Cairo had herarmament changed over the life of the vessel. To speed up her entrance into the service,Cairo and the other City-class ships were fitted with whatever weapons were on hand, then had their weapons upgraded as new pieces were made available. Though the 8 in (203 mm) smoothboreDahlgren guns were fairly modern, most of the other original weapons were antiquated, such as the 32-pounders, or modified, such as the 42-pounder "rifles". These were old smoothbores that had been made intorifles. The 42-pounder weapons were of particular concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker and more prone to exploding than purpose-built rifled cannons. Additionally, the close confines of combat on the rivers greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounderhowitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat.[4][5]
| January 1862 | November 1862 |
| • 3 × 8-inch smoothbores • 6 × 42-pounder rifle • 6 × 32-pounder rifles • 1 × 12-pounder rifle | • 3 × 8-inch smoothbores • 3 × 42-pounder rifles • 6 × 32-pounder rifle • 1 × 30-pounder rifle • 1 × 12-pounder rifle |
Over the years, the gunboat was forgotten and slowly covered by silt and sand. Impacted in mud,Cairo became a time capsule in which her unique, historical artifacts were preserved against corrosion and biological degradation. Her whereabouts became a matter of speculation, as members of the crew had died and local residents were unsure of the location.
Studying Civil War maps,Edwin C. Bearss ofVicksburg National Military Park set out to search for the lost ship using a simple magnetic compass. With the assistance of Don Jacks and Warren Grabau, the ship was found in 1956. In 1960, numerous artifacts were recovered from the ship, including the pilothouse and an 8-inch cannon, both preserved by theYazoo River mud.
With support from the State ofMississippi, State SenatorH.V. Cooper and local authorities, the gunboat was salvaged from the bottom of the river.[6][7]
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Hopes of lifting the ironclad and her cargo of artifacts intact were crushed in October 1964, when the 3-inch cables being used to liftCairo cut deeply into its wooden hull. It then became a question of saving as much of the vessel as possible. A decision was made to cutCairo into three sections. By the end of December, the battered remains were put on barges and towed toVicksburg, Mississippi. In the summer of 1965, the barges carryingCairo were towed toIngalls Shipyard on the Gulf Coast inPascagoula, Mississippi. There the armor was removed, cleaned, and stored. The two engines were taken apart, cleaned and reassembled. Sections of the hull were braced internally and a sprinkler system was operated continually to keep the white oak structural timbers fromwarping andchecking. On 3 September 1971,Cairo was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.
In 1972, theU.S. Congress enacted legislation authorizing theNational Park Service to accept the title toCairo and restore the gunboat for display inVicksburg National Military Park. Delays in funding the project halted progress until June 1977, when the vessel was transported to the park and partially reconstructed on a concrete foundation near theVicksburg National Cemetery. A shelter to cover the vessel was completed in October 1980, with the museum opening in November. The original space-frame shelter has since been replaced by a tension-fabric system to provide better cover.
The recovery of artifacts fromCairo revealed a treasure trove of weapons, ammunition, naval stores, and personal gear of the sailors who served on board. The gunboat and its artifacts can now be seen along the tour road at theUSSCairo Museum. These include a sailor's rope knife in good condition.[8]
Since salvage,Cairo has suffered degradation due to exposure to the elements, bird droppings, and vandalism.[9] There are only three other surviving Civil War-era ironclads in existence in addition to theCairo:USS Monitor,CSS Neuse, andCSSMuscogee.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.| External videos | |
|---|---|
 HAER Fly-through of Historic U.S.S. Cairo.Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, MS |
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