CSS Albemarle
Encyclopedia
CSS Albemarle was an ironclad ram of the Confederate Navy (and later the second Albemarle of the United States Navy
), named for a town
and a sound
in North Carolina
and a county
in Virginia
. All three locations were named for General George Monck, the first Duke of Albemarle
and one of the original Carolina Lords Proprietors.
(the rebuilt USS Merrimack) over the wooden-hulled Union
blockade
rs in Hampton Roads
, Virginia, signed a contract with nineteen year old detached Confederate Lieutenant Gilbert Elliott
of Elizabeth City, North Carolina
; he was to oversee the construction of a smaller but still powerful gunboat to destroy the Union warships in the North Carolina sounds. These men-of-war had enabled Union troops to hold strategic positions that controlled eastern North Carolina.
Since the terms of the agreement gave Elliott freedom to select an appropriate place to build the ram, he established a primitive shipyard, with the assistance of plantation owner Peter Smith, in a cornfield up the Roanoke River
at a place called Edward's Ferry, near modern Scotland Neck, North Carolina
; Smith was appointed the superintendent of construction. There, the water was too shallow to permit the approach of Union gunboat
s that otherwise would have destroyed the ironclad while still on its ways. Using detailed sketches provided by Elliott, the Confederate Navy's Chief Constructor John L. Porter
finalized the gunboat's design, giving the ram an armored casemate with eight sloping sides. Within this thick-walled bunker were two 6.4 inches (162.6 mm) Brooke pivot rifles, one forward, the other aft, each capable of firing from three fixed gun ports. Both cannons were protected on all sides behind six exterior-mounted, heavy iron shutters. The ram was propelled by two 3-bladed screw propellers powered by two steam engines, each of 200 hp, and built by Elliott.
Construction of the ironclad began in January 1863 and continued on during the next year. Word of the gunboat reached the Union naval officers stationed in the region, raising an alarm. They appealed to the War Department
for an overland expedition to destroy the ship, to be christened Albemarle after the body of water into which the Roanoke emptied, but the Union Army
never felt it could spare the troops needed to carry out such a mission; it was a decision that would prove to be very short-sighted.
In April 1864 the newly commissioned Confederate States Steamer Albemarle, under the command of Captain
James W. Cooke
, got underway down-river toward Plymouth, North Carolina
; its mission was to clear the river of all Union vessels so that General Robert F. Hoke's troops could storm the forts located there. She anchored about three miles (5 km) above the town, and the pilot, John Lock, set off with two seamen in a small boat to take soundings. The river was high and they discovered ten feet of water over the obstructions that the Union forces had placed in the Thoroughfare Gap
. Captain Cooke immediately ordered steam and, by keeping to the middle of the channel, they passed safely over the obstructions. The ironclad's armor protected them from the Union guns of the forts at Warren's Neck and Boyle's Mill.
However, two paddle steamer
s, USS Miami
and USS Southfield, lashed together with spars
and chains, approached from up-river, attempting to pass on either side of Albemarle in order to trap her between them. Captain Cooke turned heavily to starboard, running dangerously close to the southern shore, and got outboard of Southfield. Turning back sharply into the river, he rammed the Union sidewheeler, driving her under; Albemarles ram became trapped in Southfields hull from the force of the blow, and her bow was pulled under as well. As Southfield sank she rolled over before settling on the riverbed; this action released the death grip
that held the new Confederate ram.
Miami fired a shell into Albemarle at point-blank range while she was trapped by the wreck of Southfield, but the shell rebounded off Albemarles sloping iron armor and exploded on Miami, killing her commanding officer, Captain Charles W. Flusser
. Miamis crew attempted to board Albemarle to capture her but were soon driven back by heavy musket fire; Miami then steered clear of the ironclad and escaped into Albemarle Sound.
With the river now clear of Union ships, and with the assistance of Albemarles rifled cannon, General Hoke attacked and took Plymouth and the nearby forts.
On 5 May Albemarle and CSS Bombshell
, a captured steamer, were escorting the troop-laden CSS Cotton Plant
down the Roanoke River
; they encountered four Union warships: USS Miami, now supported by USS Mattabesett
, USS Sassacus
, and USS Wyalusing. All four ships combined mounted more than sixty cannons. Albemarle opened fired first, wounding six men working one of Mattabesett 's two 100-pounder Parrott rifle
s, and then attempted to ram her, but the sidewheeler managed to round the ironclad's armored bow. She was closely followed by Sassacus, which then fired a broadside of solid 9-inch (229 mm) and 100-pound shot, all of which bounced off Albemarles casemate armor. However, Bombshell, being a softer target, was hulled by each heavy shot from Sassucus 's broadside and was quickly captured by Union forces, following her surrender.
Lieutenant Commander
Francis Asbury Roe
of Sassucus, seeing Albemarle at a range of about 400 yards (365.8 m), decided to ram. The Union ship struck the Confederate ironclad full and square, broadside-on, shattering the timbers of her own bow, twisting off her own bronze ram in the process, and jamming both ships together. With Sassucuss hull almost touching the end of the ram's Brooke rifle, Albemarle gun crew quickly fired two point-blank rifled shells, one of them puncturing Sassucuss boilers; though live steam was roaring through the ship, she was able to break away and drift out of range. Miami first tried to use her spar torpedo
and then to tangle the Confederate ram's screw propellers and rudder with a seine net, but neither ploy succeeded. More than 500 shells were fired at Albemarle during the battle; with visible battle damage to her smokestack and other areas on the ironclad, she easily steamed back up the Roanoke the victor, soon mooring at Plymouth.
; they finally approved one of his plans, authorizing him to locate two small steam launches that might be fitted with spar torpedo
es. Cushing discovered two 30 feet (9.1 m) picket boats under construction in New York and acquired them for his mission (some accounts have them as 45 feet (13.7 m) to 47-feet). On each he mounted a Dahlgren
12 pounder howitzer
and a 14 feet (4.3 m) spar projecting into the water from its bow. One of the boats was lost at sea during the voyage from New York to Norfolk, Virginia
, but the other arrived safely with its crew of seven officers and men at the mouth of the Roanoke. There, the steam launch's spar was fitted with a lanyard-detonated torpedo.
On the night of October 27 and 28, 1864, Cushing and his team began working their way upriver. A small cutter accompanied them, its crew having the task of preventing interference by the Confederate sentries stationed on a schooner anchored to the wreck of Southfield; both boats, under the cover of darkness, slipped past the schooner undetected. So Cushing decided to use all twenty-two of his men and the element of surprise to capture Albemarle.
As they approached the Confederate docks their luck turned, and they were spotted in the dark. They came under heavy rifle and pistol fire from both the shore and aboard Albemarle. As they closed with the ironclad, they quickly discovered she was defended against approach by floating log boom
s. The logs, however, had been in the water for many months and were covered with heavy slime. The steam launch rode up and then over them without difficulty; with her spar fully against the ironclad's hull, Cushing stood up in the bow, pulled the lanyard, detonating the torpedo's explosive charge.
The explosion threw Cushing and his men overboard into the water; Cushing then stripped off most of his uniform and swam to shore, where he hid undercover until daylight, avoiding the hastily organized Confederate search parties. The next afternoon, he was finally able to steal a small skiff
and began slowly paddling, using his hands and arms as oars, down-river to rejoin Union forces at the river's mouth. Cushing's long journey was quite perilous and he was nearly captured and almost drowned before finally reaching safety, totally exhausted by his ordeal; he was hailed a national hero of the Union cause for his daring exploits. Of the other men in Cushing's launch, one also escaped, two were drowned following to the explosion, and the rest were captured.
Cushing's daring commando
raid blew a hole in Albemarles hull at the waterline "big enough to drive a wagon in." She sank immediately in the six feet of water below her keel
, settling into the heavy river bottom mud, leaving the upper casemate mostly dry and the ship's large Stainless Banner ensign flying from the flagstaff at the rear of the casemate's upper deck. Confederate commander Alexander F. Warley, who had been appointed as her captain about a month earlier, later salvaged both of Albemarles rifled cannon and shells and used them to defend Plymouth against subsequent Union attack—futilely, as it turned out.
Lieutenant Cushing's successful effort to neutralize CSS Albemarle is honored by the U. S. Navy with a battle star on the Civil War campaign streamer
.
for that purpose soon thereafter. The work was completed on 14 August 1865; two weeks later the ironclad was judged condemned by a Washington, D.C.
prize court
. She saw no active naval service after being placed in ordinary at Norfolk, where she remained until finally being sold at public auction
on 15 October 1867 to J. N. Leonard and Company. No record of any subsequent career has been found; she was likely scrapped for salvage
following purchase. One of her 6.4 inches (162.6 mm) double-banded Brooke
rifled cannon was on display at the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief U. S. Atlantic Command at the Norfolk, Virginia
Naval base. Her smokestack is on display at the Museum of the Albemarle
in Elizabeth City, North Carolina
.
s, naval jacks, small boat ensigns, commissioning pennants, designating flags, and signal flags aboard its warships during of the Civil War.
By both tradition and established regulations, both waring navies' jacks were flown forward of their ship's ensigns while in port. Albemarles likely flew atop a removable jack staff positioned either on her bow or in front of her pilot house on the upper casemate deck; historic and contemporary drawings and paintings show her jack being flown at either station.
Albemarles naval jack was discovered below decks and preserved when her wreck was raised and refloated following the war. It's designated as "flag number 42" in the special collections catalog of the United States Naval Academy
Museum at Annapolis and has been in the museum's collection for many years.
The jack's dimensions are 6 feet (1.8 m) x 8 feet, 2 inches (72 inches x 98 inches).
Albemarles naval jack was a much larger version of her battle ensign
's square, 13-star canton, known as the Southern Cross. There were, however, two noticeable differences from the ensign: As with all Confederate jacks, their diagonal saltires were a lighter, medium-blue color instead of the dark blue seen on the battle ensign. Instead of the canton's square proportion, all naval jacks were rectangular in shape, in a proportion of 2:3, required under the regulations issued on 26–28 May 1863 by the Confederate Navy Department. But Albemarles naval jack is actually much closer to a proportion of 3:4, an example of just how loosely the official naval flag regulations were being followed by the time her jack was manufactured in 1864; this variation was likely due to regional differences in the flag making techniques employed by both the south's Carolinas at this time and to various material shortages common throughout the South during the later years of the war. Following the end of the Civil War and up through today, the rectangular Southern Cross naval jack became the single Confederate flag design most commonly associated with the post-war South, and controversy.
Albemarles battle ensign was recovered from atop her casemate's flag staff by Sailing Master George F. Ford of the U. S. Navy, at some point after she was sunk at her moorings. This ensign was eventually donated by H. C. Havens of Hartford, CT, to the flag collection of the Museum of the Confederacy
, where it resides today; Havens received it from William Faxon, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
The ensign's overall dimensions are 8.45 feet (2.6 m) x 16 feet about 101 inches x 192 inches (4,876.8 mm) and entirely hand-sewn and made of a very loose weave wool bunting.
Albemarles battle ensign was the Second National Flag of the Confederacy, also known as the Stainless Banner. Specifications for this new flag were established by the Confederate Congress on May 1, 1863, replacing the First National Flag, more commonly known as the Stars and Bars
. This new flag's hoist-to-fly proportion (height-to-width) was in a 1:2 ratio, its white expanse being twice as wide as its height. A short time later, however, the Confederate Navy Department revised these regulations, changing the Navy's battle ensign proportions to a 2:3 ratio. Its square canton was the established thirteen-star red, blue, and white Southern Cross, already in-use by the Southern army as the Confederate Battle Flag. This design was originally proposed in 1861 by South Carolina Congressman William Porcher Miles to be used as the original First National Flag, but it was supposedly rejected at first as appearing too much like a pair of crossed pants' suspenders.
For reasons unknown, Albemarle retained her original 1:2 ratio ensign (see illustration above right) until its capture sometime after Lieutenant Cushing's daring raid. Whatever proportion used, the white expanse of the Stainless Banner proved to have poor visibility at a distance, especially when viewed through the haze sometimes seen around water and in contrast against soft gray southern skies.
A 63 foot (19.2m) replica of the Albemarle has been at anchor near the Port O' Plymouth Museum in Plymouth since April, 2002; the ironclad replica is self-powered and capable of sailing on the river.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
), named for a town
Albemarle, North Carolina
Albemarle is the county seat of Stanly County, North Carolina. The population was 15,680 at the 2000 census. It is governed by Mayor Elbert L. "Whit" Whitley, Jr...
and a sound
Albemarle Sound
Albemarle Sound is a large estuary on the coast of North Carolina in the United States located at the confluence of a group of rivers, including the Chowan and Roanoke. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Outer Banks, a long barrier peninsula upon which the town of Kitty Hawk is located,...
in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and a county
Albemarle County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 79,236 people, 31,876 households, and 21,070 families residing in the county. The population density was 110 people per square mile . There were 33,720 housing units at an average density of 47 per square mile...
in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. All three locations were named for General George Monck, the first Duke of Albemarle
Duke of Albemarle
The Dukedom of Albemarle has been created twice in the Peerage of England, each time ending in extinction. Additionally, the title was created a third time by James II in exile and a fourth time by his son the Old Pretender, in the Jacobite Peerage. The name is the Latinised form of the ancient...
and one of the original Carolina Lords Proprietors.
Construction
On 16 April 1862, the Confederate Navy Department, enthusiastic about the offensive potential of armored rams following the victory of their first ironclad CSS VirginiaCSS Virginia
CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy, built during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . Virginia was one of the...
(the rebuilt USS Merrimack) over the wooden-hulled Union
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
rs in Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
, Virginia, signed a contract with nineteen year old detached Confederate Lieutenant Gilbert Elliott
Gilbert Elliott
Gilbert Elliott - builder of ironclad ram CSS Albemarle-Family:Parents Gilbert Elliott and Sarah Ann Grice -[April 22], [1891] at "Milford" estate in Camden County, North Carolina daughter of shipbuilder Charles Grice and Mary Grandy...
of Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County and Camden County in the State of North Carolina. With a population of 18,683 at the 2010 census, Elizabeth City is the county seat of Pasquotank County....
; he was to oversee the construction of a smaller but still powerful gunboat to destroy the Union warships in the North Carolina sounds. These men-of-war had enabled Union troops to hold strategic positions that controlled eastern North Carolina.
Since the terms of the agreement gave Elliott freedom to select an appropriate place to build the ram, he established a primitive shipyard, with the assistance of plantation owner Peter Smith, in a cornfield up the Roanoke River
Roanoke River
The Roanoke River is a river in southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States, 410 mi long. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont...
at a place called Edward's Ferry, near modern Scotland Neck, North Carolina
Scotland Neck, North Carolina
Scotland Neck is a town in Halifax County, North Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 2,362. It is part of the Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
; Smith was appointed the superintendent of construction. There, the water was too shallow to permit the approach of Union gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
s that otherwise would have destroyed the ironclad while still on its ways. Using detailed sketches provided by Elliott, the Confederate Navy's Chief Constructor John L. Porter
John L. Porter
John Luke Porter , whose father was a shipwright at Portsmouth, Virginia, was born in 1813. He became a United States Navy civilian employee during the 1840s and a Naval Constructor in 1859. After resigning from the U.S. Navy in May 1861, he began working for the Confederate States Navy at the...
finalized the gunboat's design, giving the ram an armored casemate with eight sloping sides. Within this thick-walled bunker were two 6.4 inches (162.6 mm) Brooke pivot rifles, one forward, the other aft, each capable of firing from three fixed gun ports. Both cannons were protected on all sides behind six exterior-mounted, heavy iron shutters. The ram was propelled by two 3-bladed screw propellers powered by two steam engines, each of 200 hp, and built by Elliott.
Construction of the ironclad began in January 1863 and continued on during the next year. Word of the gunboat reached the Union naval officers stationed in the region, raising an alarm. They appealed to the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
for an overland expedition to destroy the ship, to be christened Albemarle after the body of water into which the Roanoke emptied, but the Union Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
never felt it could spare the troops needed to carry out such a mission; it was a decision that would prove to be very short-sighted.
Service on the Roanoke
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
James W. Cooke
James W. Cooke
James Wallace Cooke was an American naval officer, serving in the United States Navy and during the American Civil War serving in the Confederate Navy....
, got underway down-river toward Plymouth, North Carolina
Plymouth, North Carolina
Plymouth is the largest town in Washington County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,107 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Washington County...
; its mission was to clear the river of all Union vessels so that General Robert F. Hoke's troops could storm the forts located there. She anchored about three miles (5 km) above the town, and the pilot, John Lock, set off with two seamen in a small boat to take soundings. The river was high and they discovered ten feet of water over the obstructions that the Union forces had placed in the Thoroughfare Gap
Thoroughfare Gap
Thoroughfare Gap is an album by American singer-songwriter Stephen Stills, released in 1978. This CD is now available as a three album set on 2 CDs with Stills & Illegal Stills.- Side 1 :#"You Can't Dance Alone" – 4:14#"Thoroughfare Gap" – 3:31...
. Captain Cooke immediately ordered steam and, by keeping to the middle of the channel, they passed safely over the obstructions. The ironclad's armor protected them from the Union guns of the forts at Warren's Neck and Boyle's Mill.
However, two paddle steamer
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
s, USS Miami
USS Miami (1861)
The first USS Miami was a side-wheel, double-ender gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.Miami was launched by Philadelphia Navy Yard on November 16, 1861, and commissioned there on January 29, 1862, Lieutenant Abram Davis Harrell in command.-Battle of New Orleans:The...
and USS Southfield, lashed together with spars
SPARS
SPARS was the United States Coast Guard Women's Reserve, created 23 November 1942 with the signing of Public Law 773 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The name is a contraction of the Coast Guard motto: Semper Paratus and its English translation Always Ready...
and chains, approached from up-river, attempting to pass on either side of Albemarle in order to trap her between them. Captain Cooke turned heavily to starboard, running dangerously close to the southern shore, and got outboard of Southfield. Turning back sharply into the river, he rammed the Union sidewheeler, driving her under; Albemarles ram became trapped in Southfields hull from the force of the blow, and her bow was pulled under as well. As Southfield sank she rolled over before settling on the riverbed; this action released the death grip
Death grip
A death grip is an extremely tight grip, such as that exerted by a person in a panic for fear for their life. This was commonly thought to be a risk when rescuing a drowning person — that they would cling to their rescuer with a death grip which would cause them both to perish...
that held the new Confederate ram.
Miami fired a shell into Albemarle at point-blank range while she was trapped by the wreck of Southfield, but the shell rebounded off Albemarles sloping iron armor and exploded on Miami, killing her commanding officer, Captain Charles W. Flusser
Charles W. Flusser
Charles Williamson Flusser was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
. Miamis crew attempted to board Albemarle to capture her but were soon driven back by heavy musket fire; Miami then steered clear of the ironclad and escaped into Albemarle Sound.
With the river now clear of Union ships, and with the assistance of Albemarles rifled cannon, General Hoke attacked and took Plymouth and the nearby forts.
CSS Bombshell
CSS Bombshell — believed to have been an Erie Canal steamer — was a U.S. Army transport. Bombshell was sunk by the Confederate batteries in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina on April 18, 1864. She was raised by the Confederate forces and taken into the Confederate States Navy under the...
, a captured steamer, were escorting the troop-laden CSS Cotton Plant
CSS Cotton Plant
CSS Cotton Plant, sometimes referred to as Cotton Planter, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1860 and reportedly carried troops in the Pamlico River as early as September 1861...
down the Roanoke River
Roanoke River
The Roanoke River is a river in southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the United States, 410 mi long. A major river of the southeastern United States, it drains a largely rural area of the coastal plain from the eastern edge of the Appalachian Mountains southeast across the Piedmont...
; they encountered four Union warships: USS Miami, now supported by USS Mattabesett
USS Mattabesett (1864)
USS Mattabesett, sometimes spelled Mattabeset, a schooner-rigged, wooden hulled, double-ended sidewheel gunboat, was built by A. & G. T. Sampson, Boston, Massachusetts, and named for the Mattabesset River in Connecticut. Mattabesett was delivered to the New York Navy Yard on January 18, 1864, and...
, USS Sassacus
USS Sassacus (1862)
The first USS Sassacus, a wooden, double-ended, side-wheel steamer, was launched on December 23, 1862 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, sponsored by Miss Wilhelmina G. Lambert. Sassacus was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on October 5, 1863, Lieutenant Commander Francis A...
, and USS Wyalusing. All four ships combined mounted more than sixty cannons. Albemarle opened fired first, wounding six men working one of Mattabesett 's two 100-pounder Parrott rifle
Parrott rifle
The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War.-Parrott Rifle:The gun was invented by Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He resigned from the service in 1836 and became the superintendent of the West Point Foundry in Cold...
s, and then attempted to ram her, but the sidewheeler managed to round the ironclad's armored bow. She was closely followed by Sassacus, which then fired a broadside of solid 9-inch (229 mm) and 100-pound shot, all of which bounced off Albemarles casemate armor. However, Bombshell, being a softer target, was hulled by each heavy shot from Sassucus 's broadside and was quickly captured by Union forces, following her surrender.
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Francis Asbury Roe
Francis Asbury Roe
Francis Asbury Roe was an admiral in the United States Navy who served during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
of Sassucus, seeing Albemarle at a range of about 400 yards (365.8 m), decided to ram. The Union ship struck the Confederate ironclad full and square, broadside-on, shattering the timbers of her own bow, twisting off her own bronze ram in the process, and jamming both ships together. With Sassucuss hull almost touching the end of the ram's Brooke rifle, Albemarle gun crew quickly fired two point-blank rifled shells, one of them puncturing Sassucuss boilers; though live steam was roaring through the ship, she was able to break away and drift out of range. Miami first tried to use her spar torpedo
Spar torpedo
A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls...
and then to tangle the Confederate ram's screw propellers and rudder with a seine net, but neither ploy succeeded. More than 500 shells were fired at Albemarle during the battle; with visible battle damage to her smokestack and other areas on the ironclad, she easily steamed back up the Roanoke the victor, soon mooring at Plymouth.
Sinking
Albemarle successfully dominated the Roanoke and the approaches to Plymouth through the summer of 1864. By autumn the U. S. government decided that the situation should be studied to determine if something could be done: The U. S. Navy considered various ways to destroy Albemarle, including two plans submitted by Lieutenant William B. CushingWilliam B. Cushing
William Barker Cushing was an officer in the United States Navy, best known for sinking the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle during a daring nighttime raid on October 27, 1864, a feat for which he received the Thanks of Congress.-Early life and career:Cushing was born in Delafield, Wisconsin,...
; they finally approved one of his plans, authorizing him to locate two small steam launches that might be fitted with spar torpedo
Spar torpedo
A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls...
es. Cushing discovered two 30 feet (9.1 m) picket boats under construction in New York and acquired them for his mission (some accounts have them as 45 feet (13.7 m) to 47-feet). On each he mounted a Dahlgren
Dahlgren
-People:*Anders Dahlgren , Swedish politician who was a member of the Centre Party*Albert Dahlgren , Swedish-Canadian master carpenter*Charles G...
12 pounder howitzer
Howitzer
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
and a 14 feet (4.3 m) spar projecting into the water from its bow. One of the boats was lost at sea during the voyage from New York to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, but the other arrived safely with its crew of seven officers and men at the mouth of the Roanoke. There, the steam launch's spar was fitted with a lanyard-detonated torpedo.
On the night of October 27 and 28, 1864, Cushing and his team began working their way upriver. A small cutter accompanied them, its crew having the task of preventing interference by the Confederate sentries stationed on a schooner anchored to the wreck of Southfield; both boats, under the cover of darkness, slipped past the schooner undetected. So Cushing decided to use all twenty-two of his men and the element of surprise to capture Albemarle.
Log boom
A log boom is a barrier placed in a river, designed to collect and or contain floating logs timbered from nearby forests sometimes called a fence or bag. The term is also used as a place where logs were collected into booms, as at the mouth of a river...
s. The logs, however, had been in the water for many months and were covered with heavy slime. The steam launch rode up and then over them without difficulty; with her spar fully against the ironclad's hull, Cushing stood up in the bow, pulled the lanyard, detonating the torpedo's explosive charge.
The explosion threw Cushing and his men overboard into the water; Cushing then stripped off most of his uniform and swam to shore, where he hid undercover until daylight, avoiding the hastily organized Confederate search parties. The next afternoon, he was finally able to steal a small skiff
Skiff
The term skiff is used for a number of essentially unrelated styles of small boat. The word is related to ship and has a complicated etymology: "skiff" comes from the Middle English skif, which derives from the Old French esquif, which in turn derives from the Old Italian schifo, which is itself of...
and began slowly paddling, using his hands and arms as oars, down-river to rejoin Union forces at the river's mouth. Cushing's long journey was quite perilous and he was nearly captured and almost drowned before finally reaching safety, totally exhausted by his ordeal; he was hailed a national hero of the Union cause for his daring exploits. Of the other men in Cushing's launch, one also escaped, two were drowned following to the explosion, and the rest were captured.
Cushing's daring commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
raid blew a hole in Albemarles hull at the waterline "big enough to drive a wagon in." She sank immediately in the six feet of water below her keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
, settling into the heavy river bottom mud, leaving the upper casemate mostly dry and the ship's large Stainless Banner ensign flying from the flagstaff at the rear of the casemate's upper deck. Confederate commander Alexander F. Warley, who had been appointed as her captain about a month earlier, later salvaged both of Albemarles rifled cannon and shells and used them to defend Plymouth against subsequent Union attack—futilely, as it turned out.
Lieutenant Cushing's successful effort to neutralize CSS Albemarle is honored by the U. S. Navy with a battle star on the Civil War campaign streamer
Campaign streamer
Campaign streamers are decorations attached to military flags to recognize particular achievements or events of a military unit or service. Attached to the headpiece of the assigned flag, the streamer often is an inscribed ribbon with the name and date denoting participation in a particular battle,...
.
Raising and later service
The United States Navy then raised and temporarily hull-patched the Confederate ram after the fall of Plymouth. After the end of the war, the Union gunboat USS Ceres towed Albemarle to the Norfolk Navy Yard where she arrived on 27 April 1865. On 7 June orders were issued to repair her damaged hull, and she entered dry dockDry dock
A drydock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform...
for that purpose soon thereafter. The work was completed on 14 August 1865; two weeks later the ironclad was judged condemned by a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
prize court
Prize court
A prize court is a court authorized to consider whether or not a ship has been lawfully captured or seized in time of war or under the terms of the seizing ship's letters of marque and reprisal...
. She saw no active naval service after being placed in ordinary at Norfolk, where she remained until finally being sold at public auction
Public auction
A public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government, or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a government agency with similar authority....
on 15 October 1867 to J. N. Leonard and Company. No record of any subsequent career has been found; she was likely scrapped for salvage
Salvage
Salvage means 'rescue' and as such may refer to:* Marine salvage, the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo and sometimes the crew from peril* Salvage tug, a type of tugboat used to rescue or salvage ships which are in distress or in danger of sinking...
following purchase. One of her 6.4 inches (162.6 mm) double-banded Brooke
John Mercer Brooke
John Mercer Brooke was an American sailor, engineer, scientist, and educator. He was instrumental in the creation of the Transatlantic Cable, and was a noted marine and military innovator.-Early life and career:...
rifled cannon was on display at the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief U. S. Atlantic Command at the Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
Naval base. Her smokestack is on display at the Museum of the Albemarle
Museum of the Albemarle
The Museum of the Albemarle is located in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It serves as the northeastern regional branch of the North Carolina Museum of History...
in Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County and Camden County in the State of North Carolina. With a population of 18,683 at the 2010 census, Elizabeth City is the county seat of Pasquotank County....
.
Naval jack and battle ensign
The practice of using primary and secondary naval flags after the British tradition was common practice for the Confederacy, linked as she was by both heritage and economy to the British Isles. The fledgling Confederate Navy therefore adopted and used battle ensignBattle ensign
A battle ensign is the name given to a large war flag which is flown on a warship's mast just before going into battle.The flag identified the allegiance of the ship in what could be a very confusing situation, with thick clouds of gunsmoke obscuring the ships in action, hence the large size of...
s, naval jacks, small boat ensigns, commissioning pennants, designating flags, and signal flags aboard its warships during of the Civil War.
By both tradition and established regulations, both waring navies' jacks were flown forward of their ship's ensigns while in port. Albemarles likely flew atop a removable jack staff positioned either on her bow or in front of her pilot house on the upper casemate deck; historic and contemporary drawings and paintings show her jack being flown at either station.
Albemarles naval jack was discovered below decks and preserved when her wreck was raised and refloated following the war. It's designated as "flag number 42" in the special collections catalog of the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
Museum at Annapolis and has been in the museum's collection for many years.
The jack's dimensions are 6 feet (1.8 m) x 8 feet, 2 inches (72 inches x 98 inches).
Albemarles naval jack was a much larger version of her battle ensign
Battle ensign
A battle ensign is the name given to a large war flag which is flown on a warship's mast just before going into battle.The flag identified the allegiance of the ship in what could be a very confusing situation, with thick clouds of gunsmoke obscuring the ships in action, hence the large size of...
's square, 13-star canton, known as the Southern Cross. There were, however, two noticeable differences from the ensign: As with all Confederate jacks, their diagonal saltires were a lighter, medium-blue color instead of the dark blue seen on the battle ensign. Instead of the canton's square proportion, all naval jacks were rectangular in shape, in a proportion of 2:3, required under the regulations issued on 26–28 May 1863 by the Confederate Navy Department. But Albemarles naval jack is actually much closer to a proportion of 3:4, an example of just how loosely the official naval flag regulations were being followed by the time her jack was manufactured in 1864; this variation was likely due to regional differences in the flag making techniques employed by both the south's Carolinas at this time and to various material shortages common throughout the South during the later years of the war. Following the end of the Civil War and up through today, the rectangular Southern Cross naval jack became the single Confederate flag design most commonly associated with the post-war South, and controversy.
Albemarles battle ensign was recovered from atop her casemate's flag staff by Sailing Master George F. Ford of the U. S. Navy, at some point after she was sunk at her moorings. This ensign was eventually donated by H. C. Havens of Hartford, CT, to the flag collection of the Museum of the Confederacy
Museum of the Confederacy
The Museum of the Confederacy is located in Richmond, Virginia. The museum includes the former White House of the Confederacy and maintains a comprehensive collection of artifacts, manuscripts, Confederate imprints , and photographs from the Confederate States of America and the American Civil War...
, where it resides today; Havens received it from William Faxon, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
The ensign's overall dimensions are 8.45 feet (2.6 m) x 16 feet about 101 inches x 192 inches (4,876.8 mm) and entirely hand-sewn and made of a very loose weave wool bunting.
Albemarles battle ensign was the Second National Flag of the Confederacy, also known as the Stainless Banner. Specifications for this new flag were established by the Confederate Congress on May 1, 1863, replacing the First National Flag, more commonly known as the Stars and Bars
Stars and bars
Stars and bars may refer to* The first official flag of the Confederate States of America* A graphical method used to derive the formula for multiset coefficients and other combinatorial theorems* A 1988 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis...
. This new flag's hoist-to-fly proportion (height-to-width) was in a 1:2 ratio, its white expanse being twice as wide as its height. A short time later, however, the Confederate Navy Department revised these regulations, changing the Navy's battle ensign proportions to a 2:3 ratio. Its square canton was the established thirteen-star red, blue, and white Southern Cross, already in-use by the Southern army as the Confederate Battle Flag. This design was originally proposed in 1861 by South Carolina Congressman William Porcher Miles to be used as the original First National Flag, but it was supposedly rejected at first as appearing too much like a pair of crossed pants' suspenders.
Replica
Further reading
- Edwards, E. M. H., Commander William Baker Cushing, F. Tennyson Neely Publisher, London & New York, 1898. Pre-ISBN era.
- Roske, Ralph and Van Doren, Charles, Lincoln's Commando: The Biography of Commander W. B. Cushing, USN, Harper Brothers, New York, (First Edition) 1957. Pre-ISBN era.
- Roske, Ralph, Cushing, W. B., and Van Doren, Charles, Lincoln's Commando: The Biography of Commander W. B. Cushing, USN, (Revised and Expanded Edition), Naval Institute Press, 1995. ISBN 1-55750-737-6.
- Schneller, Jr., Robert J., Cushing: Civil War Seal (Brassey's Miltitary Profiles), Potomic Books, 2003. ISBN 978-1574886962.