USN uses monitors after ACW, but before Vietnam

[Melvin Loh]

How could the USN have deployed armd monitors of a similar type used in the ACW, at some point after 1865 but before the Brown Water Navy concept was reintroduced with the combined TF116/117 of the Mobile Riverine Force (MRF) on the Mekong Delta in 1966 ? Could such inland riverine forces have been of much use during WWII or Korea or smaller interwar conflicts, with what impact on Vietnam ?

[Mike Stearns]

Hmmmmmm, interesting. World War II commando raids up the Rhine, perhaps?

[David S Poepoe]

There were several monitors used by the US Navy until the early 1900s. Many Civil War veterans were mobilized during the Spanish-American War to provide some sort of harbor defense at various US ports. Did you forget this little bit Melvin?

The 'reconstructed' monitors of the Puritan, Amphitrite, Monterey and Arkansas class will all be scrapped by 1922 in order to conform with the Washington Naval Treaty. The riverine monitors of the Vietnam War are in a completely different class than that of the 19th century monitors - even those designed by Eads. The scale of war in Europe is entirely different than that of Vietnam also.