CONFEDERATE
STATES
IRONCLAD
SHIPS
CIVIL WAR IRONCLAD DUEL FOREVER CHANGED NAVAL
WARFARE. by Ted Sampley Olde
Kinston Gazette
CSS ALBEMARLE!
Another famous Confederate
ironclad was the Albemarle, built upriver in eastern North Carolina
in William Ruffin Smith Jr's cornfield on the edge of the Roanoke River
near Scotland Neck. The cornfield soon became known as Edwards Ferry
Shipyard, because of its close proximity to a river crossing call Edwards
Ferry.
The CSS Albemarle was
commissioned on Sunday, April 17, 1864. Her captain, Commander James
W. Cooke, was ordered to immediately begin her trek downstream. Cooke,
who previously held the responsibility of overseeing the construction of
ironclads built in North Carolina, had been appointed as her captain in
January.
Despite the fat that the
Union Navy command in New Bern had been warned by spies that the Albemarle
was on her way downstream, Cooke managed to successfully maneuver around
Union-laid obstacles including a gauntlet of sunken hulls, pilings, torpedoes
and cannon shot.
Two days after leaving
the Edwards Ferry yard, the ironclad Albemarle, with her tender
ship the Cotton Patch following close behind, arrived offshore of
Plymouth.
At 4:07 a.m. on April 19,
Cooke ordered the Albemarle's gun crew to load solid shot
and standby. Through the misty twilight he had spotted two approaching
Union vessels.
As the enemy grew closer
he could see that the two ships were linked together with "hawsers and
chains". It quickly became obvious that the Union captains planned
to snare the Albemarle with their chains trapping her between their
vessels so the ironclad could be boarded and possibly captured.
Cooke ordered the Albemarle
"all ahead full," sending the 376-ton ironclad straight for the space
between the bows of wooden hulled Union vessels. Heavy guns from
the two Union ships, the USS Southfield and USS Miami, pounded
the Albemarle with shot.
In a few seconds, the Albemarle
had traversed the river, feinted at the last moment and rammed the
Southfield hard at her port bow. The Albemarle's ram
crashed 10 feet inside the Southfield's hull, causing the Union
ship to start sinking immediately. The Southfield suddenly
listed to starboard, causing the Albemarle's bow to become
jammed in the hull.
Cooke ordered "all astern
full," hoping that full reverse thrust would relieve the Albemarle's
bow and ram from the sinking Southfield. To his Horror,
the Albemarle's ram remained stuck.
The ironclad began to sink
with the Southfield, her bow depressed under the sinking ship.
Some were attempting to lower small boats, others were leaping into the
chilly water.
The normally quiet morning
twilight was filled with un-muffled shouts, screams and curses of Union
sailors abandoning ship. With the Albemarle stuck fast to
the Southfield, the Miami's Captain, Lt. Commander Charles
W. Flusser (also the Senior US naval officer at Plymouth) ordered several
broadsides fired into the ironclad's port casemate. The shots ricocheted
off the iron plates of the Albemarle, careening harmlessly into
the water. Flusser became enraged. He jumped behind the Miami's
bow mounted X1-inch Dahlgren cannon, and personally fired the big gun
pointblank at the Albemarle from a range of about 30 feet.
The shell slammed into the ironclad's casemate, ricocheting back and exploding
directly over Flusser, killing him instantly and wounding several of the
gun crew.
Cooke, still unable to use the big guns of the
Albemarle because of her unfortunate predicament of being stuck
to the Southfield, ordered his crew to climb to the top of the casemate
where they engaged the Miami's crew in a brief but brisk
small arms skirmish.
Finally, the Southfield's hull
hit the bottom of the river. She rolled slightly, releasing her death
grip on the Albemarle. Cooke quickly reversed out and maneuvered
the Albemarle for an attack on the Miami. The Miami,
however wanted no more of the Albemarle. She reversed her
engines, then retreated at full speed.
By 5:11a.m., as the sun began to cast rays over
the waters of the Roanoke River at Plymouth, the Albermarle's
first battle was over. She had suffered only one casuality -
a crew member identified only as "Harris." That unlucky Confederate
received a pistol shot from a sailor on the Miami when he succumbed
to curiosity and took a peek out of one of the ironclad's gun ports.
On May 5, the Albemarle, accompanied by
the Cotton Plant and the newly acquired CSS Bombshell (formerly
the USS Bombshell), entered Albemarle Sound with intentions of heading
to New Bern to support a planned Confederate attack against the Union forces
occupying the town.
As Cooke's flotilla of three entered the sound,
he spotted dead ahead Union picket vessels that had been guarding the mouth
of the river -- the US warships Ceres, Commodore Hull, Whitehead
and the transport Ida May.
The unexpected arrival of the Alemarle caused
the Union captains to cancel their mission of laying torpedoes across the
rver. They quickly withdrew while sending the Ida May, their
fastest vessel, for help.
On May 12, Cooke was ordered to withdraw the
Albemarle from Plymouth to a safer point upriver. The enemy
meanwhile became busily engaged in reconnaissance, looking for the Albemarle.
Their objective was to destroy her at all cost.
US Navy Lieutenant William B Cushing finally
achieved the deed on October 28, 1864 with a small launch and a crew of
14 handpicked men.
Cushing in a daring night raid breached Confederate
lines and crashed his small steam-powered launch over a log boom that was
protecting the Albemarle. Within seconds, he had shoved a
torpedo extended on a 10-15 foot poll under the Albemarle's hull
and set it off. The blast, along with a simultaneous blast of a cannon
fired from inside the Albemarle, killed a number of Cushing's crew.
He escaped by leaping into the cold water and swimming downstream.
Mortally wounded, the Albemarle sank.
The only reported casualty of the Albemarle's crew of 66
was acting Master's Mate James Charles Hill. When the torpedo exploded,
he sustained severe injuries from a hatchway falling on him as he slept.
After the war, the famous Confederate ironclad
Albemarle was raised, taken north and sold for scrap.
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