The resulting design did away with her three-masted sail approach and three large turrets (four were originally planned but weight limits restricted this) were fitted to her revised superstructure. Her hull lines remained largely intact. A single smoke funnel protruded from her deck near midships. Armor at her waterline was up to 4.5" thick and her decks were protected in 1.5" of armor plate. The turrets offered 11" of armor and the pilothouses had 9".
In her new body, Roanoke now displaced 6,400 tons and held a beam of 53.3 feet. She could make headway at 8.5 knots (under ideal conditions) but the added weight of her new armor, weapons and related components made for a heavy ship and, in turn, showcased poor sea keeping while drawing on too much water over her decks - deficiencies that would restrict her combat career going forward.
Armament was revised to include 2 x 15" Dahlgren smoothbore guns, 2 x 150-pounder Parrott rifled guns and 2 x 11" Dahlgren smoothbore guns.
Following this conversion work, USS Roanoke was recommissioned into service on June 29th, 1863 (now as a monitor) and placed back on station in the blockade role at Hampton Roads. It was about this time that the vessel was discovered to be unfit for deep water traveling, particularly in rough weather. Such a limitation restricted Roanoke's reach during the final years of the conflict but the Union Navy eventually made up for this shortfall through commissioning of other more capable shallow draught vessels. Nevertheless, Roanoke enjoyed a wartime career that spanned the whole of the conflict and her guns proved enough of a deterrent should any enemy elements break free of their river routes and attempt to head to open sea.
With the fighting drawing down in 1865, Roanoke was sent back to New York waters and arrived there on April 27th, 1865 where she was decommissioned in June and set in reserve status. She saw only light work during this time and was recommissioned (once more) on January 13th, 1874 before being placed in reserve on June 12th, 1875. On August 5th, 1882, she was officially struck from the Naval Register and her stripped hulk was sold for scrapping on September 27th, 1883 bringing about her official end.
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