USS Saugus (1863)

Saugus with a minesweeping rake
History
United States
Name	USS Saugus
Namesake	Saugus, Massachusetts
Awarded	1862
Builder	Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Delaware
Laid down	1862
Launched	16 December 1863
Commissioned	7 April 1864
Decommissioned	13 June 1865
Recommissioned	30 April 1869
Renamed	USS Centaur 15 June 1869
Renamed	USS Saugus 10 August 1869
Decommissioned	31 December 1870
Recommissioned	9 November 1872
Decommissioned	9 March 1874
Recommissioned	10 October 1874
Decommissioned	8 October 1877
Fate	Sold, 15 May 1891
General characteristics
Class and type	Canonicus-class monitor
Displacement	2,100 long tons (2,100 t)
Length	223 ft (68.0 m)
Beam	43 ft 4 in (13.2 m)
Draft	13 ft 6 in (4.1 m)
Installed power	320 ihp (240 kW) 2 × Stimers fire-tube boilers
Propulsion	1 × Propeller 1 × Vibrating-lever steam engine
Speed	8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement	100 officers and enlisted men
Armament	2 × 15-inch (381 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns
Armor	Gun turret: 10 in (254 mm) Waterline belt: 5 in (127 mm) Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm) Pilot house: 10 in (254 mm)

USS Saugus was a single-turreted Canonicus-class monitor built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The vessel was assigned to the James River Flotilla of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron upon completion in April 1864. The ship spent most of her time stationed up the James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against a sortie by the Confederate ironclads of the James River Squadron. She engaged Confederate artillery batteries during the year and later participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher, defending the approaches to Wilmington, North Carolina, in December 1864 – January 1865. Saugus returned to the James River after the capture of Fort Fisher and remained there until Richmond, Virginia, was occupied in early April.

A few days later, the monitor was transferred to Washington, D.C., and used to temporarily incarcerate some of the suspected conspirators after the assassination of President Lincoln. She was decommissioned in June and recommissioned in early 1869 for service in the Caribbean and off the coast of Florida. Saugus was again recommissioned in late 1872 and generally remained active until late 1877. She was condemned in 1886 and sold for scrap in 1891.