and 1 July. Saugus was still under repair at the Norfolk Navy Yard in early September when she received orders to proceed with Canonicus and the gunboats and to Port Royal, South Carolina, and there await Admiral David Farragut, the prospective commander of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, in anticipation of an attack on Fort Fisher. This deployment was cancelled on 19 September when poor health caused Farragut to decline the appointment. The ship returned to the James and resumed supporting the Union Army. In an engagement with Howlett's Battery on 5 December, Saugus was hit twice. One of the shots from a Brooke rifle disabled her turret temporarily when it cracked an armor plate and broke a number of bolts. The monitor ran aground on 14 December and she was refloated the following day. Saugus was repaired at Norfolk and she was then towed by the gunboat Nereus. They departed on 22 December and arrived off Fort Fisher on Christmas Eve. The next day, Saugus joined the bombardment of the Confederate fortifications from a range of . Colhoun reported that he saw one Confederate gun dismounted by his ship's shells; Saugus fired 64 shells during the day. After Butler ordered his men re-embarked onto their transports on 26 December, the monitor was towed to Beaufort, South Carolina by the gunboat . Towed by the side-wheel gunboat , Saugus arrived back at Fort Fisher on 13 January 1865. Together with her sisters Canonicus and , the double-turreted monitor and the armored frigate , she bombarded the fort for three days until it was captured by Union troops. Despite the bursting of one of her guns on 13 January, which wounded one crewman, the ship fired 212 shells during the battle. Saugus was hit 11 times, cracking armor plates on her pilothouse and turret in addition to breaking bolts, but she was not badly damaged. Nonetheless, the monitor was ordered to return to Norfolk for repairs on 16 January, towed by the sidewheel gunboat . On 23 January, as the ship was en route for the Washington Navy Yard for repairs, the Confederate James River Squadron attempted to slip through the obstructions at Trent's Reach for an attack on the Union gunboats and transports, but they were repulsed before Saugus reached City Point four days later. Saugus remained on the James for the next month and contributed boats for clearing the