CSS Albemarle Civil War Confederate Ironclad Ram

CSS Albemarle
Civil War Confederate Ironclad Ram

CSS Albemarle (1864-1864)

CSS Albemarle , a relatively small ironclad ram, was built at Edwards Ferry, North Carolina. Commissioned in April 1864 under the command of Commander J.W. Cooke , CSN, she almost immediately went into action. On 19 April 1864, Albemarle attacked U.S. ships off Plymouth, N.C., sinking USS Southfield and driving away USS Miami and two other gunboats. With their waterborne communications severed, the Union forces were forced to surrender Plymouth to the Confederates.

Just over two weeks later, on 5 May, Albemarle , accompanied by the steamers Cotton Plant and Bombshell , steamed out into the North Carolina Sounds and attacked another U.S. Navy force, consisting of the "Double-ender" gunboats Sassacus , Wyalusing and Mattabesett , converted ferryboat Commodore Hull and small gunboat Ceres . Though Sassacus made a valiant attempt to sink the Albemarle by ramming, she was badly damaged in return. The Confederate ironclad was but lightly damaged in the engagement, which threatened the entire Union position on North Carolina's internal waters.

Desperate circumstances yield desperate responses, and on the night of 27-28 October 1864, Lieutenant William B. Cushing , USN, took the torpedo boat Picket Boat Number One upriver to Plymouth and bravely attacked Albemarle at her berth, sinking her with a spar torpedo. Following the Union recapture of the town, Albemarle was refloated. Taken to the Norfolk Navy Yard in April 1865, she remained there until sold in October 1867.

19th Century photographic reproduction of an artwork
Confederate navy vessel

At the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, after salvage, circa 1865.
Two ladies are standing on her deck, near a section of displaced casemate armor.
Confederate ship Virginia Naval Yard class type ram

Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken after the ship was salvaged, 1865
CSS albermarle Confederate Ram ship

Engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", May 1864, depicting CSS Albemarle driving off USS Miami , after ramming and sinking USS Southfield (foreground), 19 April 1864.

U.S.S. Sassacus and C.S.S. Albemarle
19th Century photograph of an artwork, depicting USS Sassacus ramming the Confederate ironclad, during Albemarle 's engagement with Federal gunboats on Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, 5 May 1864.
Sassacus was hit in a boiler and disabled during this action. Albemarle was not significantly damaged by the ramming or by gunfire.

Cushings Daring and Successful Exploit
Artwork by Bacon, published in "Deeds of Valor"
It depicts the attack on CSS Albemarle by a torpedo launch commanded by Lieutenant William B. Cushing, USN, at Plymouth, North Carolina, 27 October 1864.
The torpedo boat is shown crashing over Albemarle 's protective log boom to deliver its torpedo against the ironclad's hull.

Sunk off Plymouth, North Carolina, circa 1865. She had been sunk on 27-28 October 1864 by a torpedo boat. One section of her armored casemate has been displaced.
Photographed by W.B. Rose for A.J. Smith of New Berne, NC. Taken from the wharf at Plymouth, with the swamp and woods opposite the town in the background.

DVD	DVD	Book	Book
Quest for the Monitor The first group of non-governmental divers to dive the Monitor. All diving operations were conducted under the close supervision of NOAA.This was beautifully photographed by veteran lensman Ric O'Donnell and narrated and written by Jackie Stone. The video shows a lot of action both on the deck of the dive boat as well as wonderfully clear underwater views of the Monitor	Raise the Alabama Known as "the ghost ship." During the Civil War, the CSS Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles and captured more than 60 Union vessels. But her career came to an end in June of 1864 when she was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Northern France, where the Alabama had gone for repairs.RAISE THE ALABAMA! descends into the murky depths of the English Channel with the marine archeology team led by the renowned Gordon Watts. 200 feet beneath these foreign waters, the legendary Confederate ship is surrendering her secrets, despite weather conditions that make it safe to dive only a few days a year. The program also documents the Alabama's extraordinary career, from her construction in Liverpool to the surprise attacks that made her the scourge of Union shipping and the valiant, 90-minute battle with the Kearsarge	War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor David Mindell has combined a sensitive and incisive reading of the documentary evidence with insightful historical analysis to illuminate not only his central theme, the experience of battle in an emerging machine age, but also the process of invention, negotiation, and politics that brought the Monitor into existence and the quite different process of narration, memory, and imagination that invested the ship and its exploits so heavily with symbolic meaning.	Life in Mr. Lincoln's Navy Ringle is among the first to examine the many aspects of sailors' lives during the American Civil War. He examines topics such as the recruiting efforts of the U.S. Navy, compensation and promotion, training, entertainment, and disease to name but a few. The extensive research and sheer fact that this is one of the first books to examine this aspect of CW naval history makes it a must for any American naval library

American Military Gear Recruiter and History
United States Marines gear history and support of Semper Fi Fund

The Complete DVD History of U.S. Wars (1700-2004)
War has always been part of the American experience. From the time the first colonists set foot upon North America's shores, they were in conflict with the Native inhabitants. One hundred years later the colonies suddenly found themselves an extension of the conflicts in Europe. Less than a century later, the Revolutionary War freed the fledgling United States from its British overlords and European entanglements. Born and nurtured in war, America grew in strength and power until at the beginning of the 21st century it was the foremost military power in the world.

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress
US Naval Archives