USS Cairo

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The Uss Cairo is an Ironclad river gunboat designed and built for the Union navy in January 1862. She was one of 7 city class ironclads deployed on the Mississipi and connecting rivers, with the intention of menacing confederate supply lines and fortifications as it went. Like the Uss Monitor she would have a short career, not even seeing the year out as it struck 2 underwater mines on the 12th of December whilst moving up the yazoo river. However the captain of the vessel (Selfridge) had managed to beach the vessel before it sank 12 minutes later. The sinking caused no loss of life, however it would remain under water, mostly cocooned in mud and silt by the time of her discovery 100 years later in 1962. The vessel was raised in December 1964, however the fragile hull had been damaged in the process by the cranes lifitng the hull, thus it ended up being recovered in 3 sections. The vessel was rebuilt to an extent and remains on display to this day, however not much is left of the original vessel.