Though the original designs for the
Casco-class monitors were drawn by
John Ericsson, the final revision was created by Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers following
Rear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont's failed bombardment of
Fort Sumter in 1863. By the time that the plans were put before the Monitor Board in
New York City, Ericsson and Stimers had a poor relationship, and Chief of the
Bureau of Construction and Repair John Lenthall had little connection to the board. This resulted in the plans being approved and 20 vessels ordered without serious scrutiny of the new design. US$14 million was allocated for the construction of these vessels. It was discovered that Stimers had failed to compensate for the armor his revisions added to the original plan and this resulted in excessive stress on the wooden hull frames and a freeboard of only . Stimers was removed from the control of the project and Ericsson was called in to undo the damage. He was forced to raise the hulls of the monitors under construction by to make them seaworthy. On 25 June 1864, the
Navy Department ordered ''Shiloh's
builder to raise her deck to give her sufficient freeboard, then on 17 June 1865, after the end of the Civil War had prompted an American naval retrenchment, work on Shiloh'' was ordered suspended. Nevertheless, it was decided to proceed with her launching; and an unsuccessful attempt to get her off the ways was made on 3 July 1865. After much labor, the ship finally entered the water 11 days later. ==Fate==