commanding officers over the duration of her service. During the Civil War four of Carondelets crew members were awarded the Medal of Honor: Signal Quartermaster Matthew Arther for actions at the Battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, February 1862; Seaman John Dorman for actions in various engagements; Fireman Michael Huskey, for actions during Steele's Bayou Expedition, March 1863; and Coxswain John G. Morrison, for actions in the engagement with CSS Arkansas, 15 July 1862. Post-war decommissioning and sale She was decommissioned at Mound City, Illinois, on 20 June 1865, and sold there on 29 November 1865. Subsequent career and sinking In 1873, shortly before she was to be scrapped, a flood swept Carondelet from her moorings in Gallipolis, Ohio. She then drifted approximately 130 miles down the Ohio River, where she grounded near Manchester, Ohio. Her ultimate fate remained unknown until a May 1982 search operation by Clive Cussler's National Underwater and Marine Agency pinpointed the location of the wreckage, just two days after a dredge passed directly over the wreckage, demolishing most of the wrecked vessel. Armament Like many of the Mississippi theatre ironclads, USS Carondelet had its armament changed multiple times over life of the vessel. To expedite the entrance of Carondelet into service, she and the other City-class gunboats were fitted with whatever weapons were available; then had their weapons upgraded as new pieces became available. Though the Dahlgren smoothbore cannons were fairly modern most of the other original armaments were antiquated; such as the 32-pounders, or modified; such as the 42-pounder "rifles" which were in fact, old smoothbores that had been gouged out to give them rifling. These 42-pounder weapons were of particular concern to military commanders because they were structurally weaker and more prone to exploding than purpose-built rifled cannons. Additionally, the close confines of riverine combat greatly increased the threat of boarding parties. The 12-pounder howitzer was equipped to address that concern and was not used in regular combat. See also Union Navy Anaconda Plan Mississippi Squadron References Sources Coombe, Jack, Thunder Along the Mississippi: The River Battles That Split The Confederacy (Book Sales Inc. 2005) Cussler, Clive and Craig Dirgo, The Sea Hunters (Simon & Schuster 1996) Smith, Myron J., Tinclads in the Civil War: Union light-Draught Gunboat Operations on Western Waters, 1862–1865 (McFarland 2009) External links Pictures of USS Carondelet (1862–1865) Bombardment of Fort Henry (Feb. 2-6, 1862) Building the City