Hampton Roads Naval Museum

33. USS Onondaga

Norfolk, VA

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USS Onondaga, a 2,592-ton twin-turret monitor, was built at Greenpoint, New York. Commissioned in March 1864, she spent her entire active career with the James River Flotilla, covering the water approaches to Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War's last year. While on the James, she was involved in several engagements in June, August, and December 1864 and in January 1865. Onondaga was decommissioned in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June 1865. In an arrangement approved by the Congress, she was sold back to her builder in March 1867 and immediately resold to France. The monitor subsequently had long service in the French Navy, retaining the name Onondaga.