Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: jd755Date: 2019-02-06 20:30:43Reaction Score: 1
Apparently that ship did sail across the Atlantic as she is shown here in Cork Ireland in 1866 year before she was decommisoned and sold to the French so either she sailed back again, truly remarkable, or the dates are off by a year and she is on her delivery voyage, which mkes one wonder why she stopped off in Ireland as Britain and France were not on the best of terms.
Arrival of US naval in Cork Harbor, Ireland 1866.
Do have a read through this page it is truly fascinating
"Our Ironclads on the James River": The Collected Correspondence of "Garryowen" – Irish in the American Civil War
Won't load for me unless a proxy is used but here's some snippets.
"The identity of
Garryowen, who served as a Fireman aboard the ironclad USS
Onondaga, was revealed in his 1872 obituary in the
Irish-American. He was Michael J. Callinan, who unsurprisingly (given his chosen nom de plume) was from Limerick City.*"
"We weighed anchor and proceeded from the Navy Yard on Monday afternoon, the 18th ult., and went down without any accident or interruption as far as Sandy Hook, the ship working to the satisfaction of all concerned; the weather being considered boisterous, we remained opposite the “Hook” until the Thursday following, when we started on our mission of death and destruction, for which purpose our “iron cave” (as I may call it,) was constructed."
"and when Richmond is taken, as it must be, and the rebellion subdued, then we will head our iron monster across the Atlantic and anchor in “Bantry Bay,” where we will soon plant the “Green above the Red.”
Boisterous weather on a river prevents this boat from moving and yet the author predicts traversing the Atlantic and if the engraving and picture is any guide it actually did at least once. However cannot find the source of that engraving and it has a funnel as it did on the James river not the one it had outside of Brest so maybe 'poetic licence'?
KD is going to luurve this, just had to share.
Water jet propulsion in 1866!
Maschinery of the water-jet drive of HMS WATERWITCH, year of construction 1866
1866: Britain Builds the First Jet-Powered Warship
And that American monitor she was towed across the atlantic by le European in 1868
Gardes-côtes cuirassés
historical
1-1865: in service on the James River for the Union forces
8-6-1865: decommissioned.
7-3-1867: a special law authorizes the resale of the Onondaga to its builder, then its transfer to France under the same name.
2-9-1867: towed from New York to Halifax.
15-6-1868: departed Halifax for Brest, towed by the European, for overhaul, 5-1869: exit for tests.
1898: reserve in Brest.
4-1898: functional tests.
2-12-1904: scratched
