[3] The ship's main armament consisted of four smoothbore, muzzle-loading 11-inch Dahlgren guns mounted in two twin-gun turrets.

The sides of the hull consisted of three layers of one-inch plates, backed by 15 inches (380 mm) of pine.

The deck was heavily cambered to allow headroom for the crew on such a shallow draft and it consisted of iron plates .75 inches (19 mm) thick.

[1] The first U.S. Navy ship to be named after the Indian tribe, she was launched on 4 July 1863 and commissioned on 27 April 1864.

She was transferred to Rear Admiral David Farragut's West Gulf Blockading Squadron on 9 July, together with her sister Chickasaw.

The larger, more heavily armed monitors Tecumseh and Manhattan were to keep the ironclad ram CSS Tennessee away from the vulnerable wooden ships while they were passing Fort Morgan and then sink her.

Winnebago took on board 10 survivors from the ill-fated Tecumseh who had been rescued by a boat from Metacomet under heavy fire and passed Ft. Morgan at 08:30.

During the battle, Winnebago was hit 19 times, three of which penetrated the deck near her aft turret, although she suffered no casualties.

The fort surrendered on 24 August and the ship remained at Mobile Bay into 1865 supporting Union forces.

The Navy's role was to bombard the defenses and to interdict their communications with Mobile, but the defenders had sown mines in great numbers in the waterways.

[13] Winnebago later protected a convoy carrying some 13,000 troops under Major General Frederick Steele, to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama later in April.