USS Tonawanda was a double-turreted coastal monitor

Monitor (warship)

A monitor was a class of relatively small warship which was neither fast nor strongly armoured but carried disproportionately large guns. They were used by some navies from the 1860s until the end of World War II, and saw their final use by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War.The monitors...

 built by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, launched on 6 May 1864; and commissioned on 12 October 1865, Commander

Commander (United States)

In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...

 William Ronckendorff

William Ronckendorff

William Ronckendorff was an officer in the United States Navy.-Biography:...

 in command.

The Tonawanda was designed by Chief of Naval Engineering John Lenthall

John Lenthall

John Lenthall may refer to:People* Sir John Lenthall, 1st Baronet, , English lawyer and member of parliament* John Lenthall , , Shipbuilder of Philadelphia Ships...

. Lenthall actually designed four monitors at that time. The and the were the first and are considered the two Monadnock-class vessels. Lenthall altered the designs of the next two, the and the Tonawanda and dubbed them the Miantonomoh-class. Because of the similarities between the two classes they are sometimes referred to collectively as the Miantonomoh-class.

The Tonawanda used powerful steam engines designed by Chief of Steam Engineering, Benjamin F. Isherwood

Benjamin F. Isherwood

Benjamin Franklin Isherwood was an engineering officer in the United States Navy during the early days of steam-powered warships. He served as a ship's engineer during the Mexican–American War, and after the war did experimental work with steam propulsion...

. Her hull design was also much more streamlined than monitors designed by John Ericsson

John Ericsson

John Ericsson was a Swedish-American inventor and mechanical engineer, as was his brother Nils Ericson. He was born at Långbanshyttan in Värmland, Sweden, but primarily came to be active in England and the United States...

. Unfortunately, her internal frames were only 4.5 in oak and like Lenthall's conversion, the weight of her turrets weakened the structural integrity of the hull and she was prone to rotting and cracking.

Service history

Completed too late for service in the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, Tonawanda was decommissioned at the Washington Navy Yard

Washington Navy Yard

The Washington Navy Yard is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy...

 on 22 December 1865. Reactivated on 23 October 1866 for duty as a training ship at the United States Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

, she was serving in that capacity when she was renamed Amphitrite on 15 June 1869. Her assignment at Annapolis, MD

Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...

 ended in 1872, and she was taken to the Delaware River

Delaware River

The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...

 and broken up in 1873 and 1874 by the Harlan and Hollingsworth Co., Wilmington, DE

Wilmington, Delaware

Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

under the guise of being "rebuilt" into a modern monitor. The completely new monitor that replaced her was also named , but shared nothing but the name with the older ship.