High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The USS Ammonoosuc (later renamed USS Iowa) was laid down by the Boston Navy Yard during the American Civil War and was launched, apparently without ceremony, on 21 July 1864. She was intended to be used against the British should England decide to take the side of the Confederate States of America and attack the American Union North. However, as the war progressed, England`s support of the Confederacy diminished, and the fast and powerful Ammonoosuc was never placed into service.