River Gunboats
Page 14
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA
The Confederate States made valiant, if ultimately unsuccessful, efforts to wrest control of their river systems from the opposing Union gunboat fleet. At one point they even decimated a Union flotilla by the unexpected appearance of a line of rams. However, their triumph was short-lived and the Union riposted with rams of their own. When thinking of rams, it is important to specify that, despite having reinforced bows and often large iron blocks for ramming, none of the Confederate rams were fitted with a projecting underwater spur in the fashion of a Greek trireme. In place of the man-power of the Greek oars, the Confederates substituted the brute force of steam engines. If a Confederate ram was armed with guns, for service on the rivers, she is included here.
Compared to the Union States, the Southern States seriously lacked iron. What little they had, they needed to use to manufacture artillery and small arms. What they did possess in abundance, was cotton. Surprising as it might seem, compressed bales of cotton provided quite efficient protection against small-arms fire: Major George Geear of the Royal Artillery confirmed to the author that bundles of cotton waste proved effective at stopping even the classic British .303 bullet. Cotton bales were used on some of the South’s armoured trains, and experience in the Civil War would lead to later developments of impregnated cotton weave used in the first bullet-resistant vests. Stacked around the vital parts of a warship, in multiple layers, they even gave a degree of protection against artillery fire. However, fires started by the explosion of shells would always remain a problem.
Given the overwhelming superiority of the Union river fleet, and the limited protection offered by cotton bales, the South began a serious attempt to gain the upper hand by using precious railroad rails to armour a whole series of rams. Many failed to come into action, being burned to avoid capture, or broke down due to the use of underpowered, and in most cases, reused steam machinery, but in a very few instances the Southern ironclads would pose a serious risk to their Union opponents. A limiting factor, apart from the lack of modern machinery, would always be the dilemma of whether to use rails for gunboat protection or employ them on the railroads. By the end of the Civil War the South had to return to older obsolete types of rail for their vital railroad communications. Although proof against medium-calibre guns carried by most Union river gunboats, the extempore Confederate armour was easily penetrated by the armour-piercing bolts fired from powerful weapons such as the 15in Dahlgrens carried on monitors.
Because of the often unskilled shipbuilding techniques employed in producing the riverine ironclads, it is no surprise that for several of the vessels listed there is no record of their final displacement. Also, given the drafting of Army soldiers and gunners on an ad-hoc basis, often there is no definitive figure for their complement.
As with the chapter on the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the vessels listed below are intended to show a selection of the types employed by the Confederacy, and this is far from a complete glossary. Virtually all the river ironclads, however, have at least a drawing. Note: Ironclads designed to break the Union coastal blockade or defend the ports such as Charleston and Mobile are not included.
COTTONCLADS
CSS Governor Moore
SS Charles Morgan was taken over at New Orleans in January 1862 by Brigadier General Mansfield Lovell, and renamed CSS Governor Moore. The Confederates reinforced her bow for ramming, and mounted a 32-pounder gun at bow and stern. Her upperworks were protected by bales of compressed cotton, and this protection was carried down below deck to shield her boilers. The side paddle wheels, and in particular her walking beam, however, remained highly vulnerable.
During the battle off Forts Jackson and St Philip on 24 April 1862, General Moore twice rammed the Union gunboat USS Varuna, causing damage which led to her sinking. Soon after, however, she was overcome by the firepower of the Union fleet. Her upperworks were shot away, and out of control, with two-thirds of her crew dead or wounded, she drifted ashore where her captain and two crewman set her on fire.
Launched:
1854 as seagoing steamer SS Charles Morgan for the Southern Steamship Company.
Dimensions:
Displ: 1,215 tons.
Crew:
93.
Power/Speed:
Side paddle wheels; walking beam low-pressure steam engine. Schooner rig.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 32-pounder rifles/Compressed cotton bales; 2 strips of railroad iron forming a reinforced bow for ramming.
Fate:
Sunk 24 April 1862.
CSS Stonewall Jackson
Little information is listed for the Confederate ram CSS Stonewall Jackson. She was commissioned on 16 March 1862, with a crew of thirty men. Even her armament is uncertain, being quoted as either a 32-pounder or a 24-pounder smoothbore. What is known is that she was protected by cotton bales in a similar manner to General Moore, and she also took part in the fight off Forts Jackson and St Philip on 24 April 1862. After having twice rammed the mortally-damaged USS Varuna, Stonewall Jackson was attacked by the sloop of war USS Oneida. Driven ashore, Stonewall Jackson was burned.
CSS Governor Moore. Note her 32-pounder rifles at bow and stern. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo No NH 57818, artwork by R G Skerrett)
CSS Stonewall Jackson. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo No NH 57825, artwork by R G Skerrett)
IRONCLADS
CSS Albemarle
Albemarle was built in a cornfield beside Edwards Ferry on the Roanoke River. For lack of a sawmill her oak timbers were sawn in a nearby wood. Her two layers of highly effective armour each 2in thick came from scrap iron gathered locally. Her steam engines are reputed to have come from a cotton mill. On her first sortie she had to proceed stern first, trailing chains behind her bows, as she was too difficult to steer forward in the fast-flowing current. One of her crew members wrote ‘You must not expect too much of the Albemarle for she is the poorest iron-clad in the Confederacy’.
Lieutenant Fussler, commanding USS Miami, certainly took Albemarle seriously. As the river was too shallow to allow his ships to go in and destroy her before she was completed, he asked for an Army expedition to do the job instead, but his plea went unheeded. Warned that Albemarle was coming down the river, on the night of 18 April 1864 he tied his vessel together with USS Southfield, in an attempt to trap the Confederate iron-clad between them and board her. His plan failed when Albemarle rammed at full speed into Southfield, causing her to sink rapidly. Albemarle was nearly dragged down with her, but pulled free when her victim struck the river bed. Miami meanwhile had cut her ties to the sinking Southfield and fled at speed downriver. Albemarle then proceeded to shell the town of Plymouth, which soon surrendered to the Confederacy.
CSS Albemarle replica at the National Civil War Museum. (Photo from the Museum’s Website: http://www.portcolumbus.org/exhibits-events?lightbox=dataItem-isj1xzsq)
On 5 May 1864 Albemarle clashed with a Union flotilla, again without receiving much, if any, damage, despite being rammed by the double-ender USS Sassacus.
This dangerous Confederate ironclad was taken out in a daring raid by young Lieutenent Cushing, who sank her with a spar torpedo on the night of 27/28 October 1864. Later salvaged by the Union, she was taken over by the US Navy. Albemarle was sold out of service in 1867 and scrapped. See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
CSS Albemarle. (Drawing courtesy of The Blueprints)
Launched:
April 1864 at Edwards Ferry, Roanoke River.
Dimensions:
Displ: 376 tons (?); L: 46.3m/152ft; B: 10.36m/34ft; D: 2.43m/8ft.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × 200ihp steam engines.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 100-pounder rifles/2 layers of 2in (51mm) iron plates.
Fate:
Sold for scrapping 15 October 1867.
CSS Arkansas
Brought to completion at Greenwood by Lieutenant Isaac Newton Brown, using the en
gines from steamer Natchez, CSS Arkansas moved downriver and on 15 July 1862 confronted the Union gunboats Carondelet and Tyler and the ram Queen of the West. Carondelet was driven aground and abandoned by her crew, and Arkansas pursued the fleeing Tyler and Queen of the West which hurried to join the combined forces of Farragut and Davis above Vicksburg. Coming across the entire Union force, Arkansas ran through the fleet, severely damaging the ram Lancaster which attempted to attack her. Having herself suffered considerable damage in the encounter, Arkansas holed up under the gun batteries at Vicksburg. Farragut sent his flotilla to pass downriver and sink her, but she was barely visible in the failing light. Then Farragut ordered Essex and Queen of the West to attempt a ramming attack, but they were both driven off. Arkansas had restored Confederate hegemony on the stretch of the Mississippi around Vicksburg. However, while her wounded captain was recuperating some miles away, Confederate General Van Dorn sent the damaged Arkansas, with a much-reduced crew, to support a Confederate attack on Baton Rouge. Her unreliable second-hand engines broke down and drove her into the bank, where her crew abandoned her, but not before loading all her guns, spreading ammunition about her decks, and setting her on fire. The unmanned iron-clad drifted off the bank and among the Union ships, then blew up and sank.
CSS Arkansas in a sepia wash drawing by R G Skerrett, circa 1900. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo)
CSS Arkansas. (Drawing courtesy of The Blueprints). For a colour photo, see Appendix I.
Launched:
24 April 1862 by J T Shirley, at Memphis; moved to Greenwood on the Yazoo River for completion.
Dimensions:
Displ: c.800 tons; L: 50m/165ft; B: 11m/35ft; D: 3.5m/11ft 6in.
Crew:
175.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × 900ihp low-pressure steam engines/8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 8in SB Columbiads in bow ports; 2 × 6.4in Brooke rifles in stern ports: Broadside armament of 2 × 8in Dahlgren SB; 2 × 6.4in Brooke rifles; 2 × 32-pounder SB. Cast iron ram at the bow/Railroad iron over wood and compressed cotton; Pilot house and stern: boiler plate only.
Fate:
Scuttled 6 August 1862.
CSS Georgia
Known as ‘The Ladies’ Gunboat’, construction of CSS Georgia was funded by The Ladies’ Gunboat Association of Savannah, who raised $115,000. As the only steam engines available did not permit her to move rapidly enough for combat, it was decided to use her as a floating battery to defend the city and nearby Fort Jackson. Note her high armoured citadel and her submerged hull, making her appear similar to the French floating batteries used earlier in the Crimea. The illustration also shows she lacked a conning tower, which would have rendered her difficult to manoeuvre safely without her commanding officer exposing his head above the armour citadel. During their twenty months of relative inaction, there was one moment of excitement for her crew, when in June 1864 they took part in the raid which captured the USS Water Witch. When Sherman’s army captured Savannah in a land attack, her crew blew up the Georgia. Items from her wreck were salvaged from the Savannah River in 2015, including her last four remaining guns.
An engraving of the Georgia published in The Soldier in Our Civil War, Volume II. Just one photo of her was discovered in 1986, but in 2015 it was admitted to be a fake. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 58722)
CSS Georgia drawn by Gordon Watts. (From Website http://civil-warpicket.blogspot.fr/2013/11/mysteries-of-deep-upcoming-raising-of.html)
Launched:
1863 by Alvin N. Miller, Savannah.
Dimensions:
L: 76m/250ft; B: 18m/60ft.
Crew:
200.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; steam engines.
Guns/Armour:
10 guns including: 1 × 9in Dahlgren SB; 2 × 6.4in Brooke rifles; 1 × 32-pounder rifle; 1 × 24-pounder howitzer; 1 × 6-pounder/T-section rail lengths on backing of 4in oak + 12in pine + 8in pine.
Fate:
Scuttled 21 December 1864.
CSS Jackson
The remains of Jackson today show that the extended stern was an add-on, and that the hull timbers still show traces of the central water channel for the original wheel. She was still an exceptionally large ironclad for such a small, twisting river. Theories are divided as to whether she was to be used as a floating battery to defend Columbus, the second largest industrial centre in the Confederacy, or whether she was intended to travel downriver to combat the Union blockaders. While still fitting out, she was set on fire by Wilson’s Raiders and sank.
CSS Jackson as built. She was originally designed as a centre-wheeler, to be named Muscogee. When it was discovered she could not be launched in the shallow Chatahoochee River, she was completely reconstructed as a propeller-driven ironclad with a shorter citadel. (Drawing courtesy of The Blueprints)
Stern view of the wreck of CSS Jackson following her salvage, on display at the Confederate Naval Museum, Columbus, Georgia, in the mid-1960s. (From Website https://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/Navy_Ships/CSS_Jackson.html)
Launched:
22 December 1864 as CSS Muscogee at Columbus on the Chattahoochee River.
Dimensions:
Displ: 2,000 tons; L: 68.1m/223ft 6in; B: 17.2m/56ft 6in; D: 2.4m/8ft.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; steam engines.
Guns/Armour:
4 × 7in Brooke rifles; 2 × 6.4in Brooke rifles; 2 × 12-pounder howitzers/4in iron plates backed by 20in white oak.
Fate:
Lost 16 April 1865.
CSS Louisiana
The Louisiana was one of two large and powerfully-armed ironclads intended for the defence of New Orleans. She was originally designed by E C Murray, a noted New Orleans shipbuilder, but was modified several times prior to and even after launching, under the overall guidance of Acting Naval Constructor Joseph Pierce. The original intention was to power her by two central wheels mounted in line, with two additional propeller engines at the stern, not for propulsion, but to aid steering. After she was launched, it was found that the in-line internal paddle wheels were extremely inefficient, the forward wheel serving only to propel water against the blades of the second wheel, and Louisiana was unable to even stem the river current, so during the time she lay moored as a static defence for New Orleans, she was modified by changing the rear wheel to a pair set side-by-side. It is possible the forward wheel was deleted at this time, or else was retained to propel the water flow between the two rear paddle wheels. In any case, the screw propeller engines, having no separate boilers to supply them with steam, were completely ineffectual.
CSS Louisiana as modified. (Sketch by J W Wallis on Website: https://civil-wartalk.com/threads/css-louisiana-a-new-perspective.116578/)
When Farragut’s fleet sailed past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, Louisiana came briefly into action, but with the fall of New Orleans imminent she was set on fire, drifted into the river, and blew up.
Launched:
6 February 1862 by John Hughe at New Orleans.
Dimensions:
Displ: 1,400 tons; L: 80m/264ft; B: 19m/62ft; D: 3.96m/13ft full load.
Crew:
300.
Power/Speed:
Internal paddle wheels; 2 × 4ft diameter rear propellers to aid steering; 4 × steam engines.
Guns/Armour:
4 × 8in Dahlgren SB; 2 × 7in Brooke rifles; 3 × 9in SB; 7 × 32-pounder SB. Planned cast-iron bow ram was never fitted/Hull and casemate: 4in interlocking rail sections on 28in wood backing; Deck: 2in plate.
Fate:
Sunk 28 April 1862.
CSS Manassas
The dredger/icebreaker tug Enoch Train was captured by the Confederate privateer CSS Ivy, and converted at Algiers, Louisiana to become the South’s first ironclad ram. The illustration and the drawings show her with both a single and a twin funnel arrangement. Both are correct depending on the period, but it is not kn
own which was the earlier, and which the later, arrangement. It is recorded that in an early attack she lost her funnel(s), so she was rebuilt with the second arrangement. With no conning tower, merely an armoured flap in front of her bow gun, it may have been extremely difficult to line her up for a successful ramming attack. Her commander would need to have a wide-view appreciation of his opponents’ positions and movements, which is why most of her ramming attempts resulted only in non-fatal glancing blows. Added to this disadvantage was the need to reinforce her engine bedding to better withstand the shock of ramming. Her one successful feature was her curved armour protection, which caused most of the Union shot and shell to bounce off.
Drawing of Manassas by J Heintz from Model Ship Builder magazine, 1985. Note that here she is shown with twin side-by-side funnels. (Via Website https://civilwartalk.com/threads/aye-candy-c-s-s-manassas.81908/page-3)
Drawing of CSS Manassas by R G Skerrett, 1904, showing her with a single funnel. (US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 608)
After being fiercely engaged in the battle for Forts Jackson and St Philip, Manassas followed the Union flotilla, but was set upon by USS Mississippi, which attempted to ram. Avoiding the blow, Manassas ran aground, where she was heavily shelled and set on fire. Her crew managed to escape before she slipped off the shore and drifted downriver, where she exploded and sank.
Launched:
1855 as tug Enoch Train, designed for dredging and used for icebreaking, by James O. Curtis, Medford, Mass.
Dimensions:
Displ: 387 tons; L: 43.6m/143ft; B: 10m/33ft.
Crew:
36.
Power/Speed: