USS Waxsaw (1865)

The USS Waxsaw was a Casco-class light draft monitor built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was originally named Pasquotank but was renamed Waxsaw on June 15, 1869.

The Casco-class monitors were designed to operate in the shallow waters of the Confederacy, and the Waxsaw, like her sister ships, incorporated a number of innovative, but ultimately unsuccessful, design features. These included a hull designed for very shallow draft, retractable turrets, and a system of water ballast tanks to adjust the ship's trim and draft. These features proved problematic in practice, leading to poor seakeeping and operational difficulties.

The Waxsaw was launched in 1865, near the end of the Civil War, at the Atlantic Iron Works in Boston, Massachusetts. She saw little to no active service during the war. After the war's conclusion, she spent much of her career laid up in ordinary, undergoing repairs and modifications.

Ultimately, the Casco-class monitors were deemed largely unsuccessful. The Waxsaw was sold for scrap in 1874. Her design flaws and limited service life contributed to the general perception of the class as a failure. Although innovative in concept, the Waxsaw and her sister ships highlighted the challenges of adapting new technology to the demanding conditions of naval warfare.