eight layers. The ship's deck was protected by armor thick. The bases of the funnel and the ventilator were also protected by unknown thicknesses of armor. Construction and career Monadnock, named after Mount Monadnock, a mountain in southern New Hampshire, was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1862. The ship was launched on 23 March 1863 and commissioned on 4 October 1864. She subsequently steamed to Norfolk, Virginia, and there Commander Enoch Parrott assumed command on 20 November. On 13 December she departed Norfolk for the assault against Fort Fisher and joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron two days later. The reinforced squadron approached Fort Fisher on 24 December as part of the Union fleet. At ranges of she bombarded the fortification and continued throughout the day. The following morning she resumed shelling the fort as 2,000 Army troops under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler landed north of the fort. The soldiers were withdrawn later that day when Butler received word of approaching Confederate troops and worsening weather that would prevent him from evacuating his troops. Although the Navy had believed that its fire was accurate and effective, it was neither because many gunners had aimed at the Confederate flag flying above the fort and their shells had flown across the peninsula to land in the Cape Fear River. A second assault was begun on the morning of 13 January 1865 with the ironclads the first to fire in the hopes of provoking the Confederate gunners to retaliate and reveal the positions of their gun so that they could be engaged by the rest of the fleet. The ironclads had anchored to make their fire more accurate and Monadnock kept up a slow and deliberate fire during the day and into the night. Resupplying ammunition at night the ship kept up her fire through the 15th. After Rear Admiral David D. Porter ordered that his ships were to aim at the walls of Fort Fisher rather than the flag, the bombardment was much more effective and many guns were dismounted or disabled. Monadnocks side armor was struck five times during the battle with little damage inflicted; the turrets and the ventilation pipe were also hit five times with no damage recorded. One of the monitor's sailors, Quartermaster William Dunn, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Fort Fisher engagements.