ck were one or more
circular turrets, made of one-inch rolled wrought-iron plates, the
whole thickness depending upon the number of these thin plates bolted
together. The decks, and the hulls to some distance below the
water-line, were also armored, but less heavily. In the turret two
guns were mounted, of a size varying with the size of the vessel. They
could be moved in and out, but the aim from side to side was changed
by turning the whole turret, which revolved on a central spindle.
After firing, the ports were turned away from the enemy and the
unbroken iron toward him, until the guns were reloaded. Above and
concentric with the turret was another circular structure, of much
less diameter and similarly armored. This, called the pilot-house,
contained the steering-wheel, and was the station in battle of the
captain, helmsman, and pilot if there were one. It was stationary, not
sharing the revolving motion of the gun-turret, and could be entered
only by a hole opening down into the latter, the top being closed by
iron plates, which had been given greater thickness since a shot in
one instance had struck and broken them, killing the captain of the
vessel. Narrow horizontal slits were cut in the armor of the
pilot-house, through which the captain peered, as through the bars of
a helmet, to see his enemy and direct the course of his ship. The
gun-turret could be entered or left by the hull below, which contained
the living rooms of the officers and crew and all the usual and
necessary arrangements of a ship of war, or by the gun-ports, which
were large enough for a man to pass through. In action the hatches
were down, and ordinarily the only exit from the hull below was
through the turret and its ports. Four of these vessels were sent to
Farragut after many askings and months of delay; two from the Atlantic
coast, the Tecumseh and Manhattan, having ten-inch armor on their
turrets, and two from the Mississippi River, the Chickasaw and
Winnebago, with eight-and-a-half-inch armor. The former carried two
XV-inch guns in one turret; the latter four XI-inch guns in two
turrets. They were all screw ships, but the exigencies of the
Mississippi service calling for light draught, those built for it had
four screws of small diameter, two on each quarter. The speed of the
monitors was poor and, as they had iron hulls, varied much as their
bottoms were clean or foul. From a comparison of differing statements
it may be taken at from