The CSS ALBEMARLE was designed by Chief Constructor
John L Porter, CSN, and built in the spring of 1864 by Gilbert Elliott
at Edward`s Ferry on the Roanoke River. She was 122 feet long, 45
feet beam and her draft 8 feet. Her planking was 4 inches thick over
8x10 inch frames. The central shield was 60 feet long and covered by
two layers of 2 inch iron plating. Her armament consisted of two 8
inch guns, one forward, the other aft, behind iron shutters. She had
two engines of 200hp each.
In April 1864 the newly constructed Albemarle, under the
command of Capt. J.S. Cooke, was ordered to proceed down river from
Hamilton to Plymout to clear the river of federal vessels so that
General Hoke`s troops could storm the forts. She anchored about three
miles above the town and the pilot, John Lock, set off with two seamen
in a small boat to take soundings. They found that the river was high
and that there was 10 feetof water over the obstructions that the
federal forces had placed in the Thoroughfare Gap. On hearing the news
Capt. Cooke immediately ordered steam and, by keeping in the middle of
the stream, they passed safely over the obstructions. Their armour
protected them from the guns of two forts, Warren`s Neck and Boyle`s
Mill, but then they discovered a new hazard coming up the river towards
them. Two federal steamers, theMiami and the Southfield, lashed together with spars and chains were in the middle of the river, intending to pass on either side of Albemarle which would put her at their mercy. Capt. Cookeran close in to the southern shore then turned to ram the Southfield amidships. Albemarle
was going at full speed with the assistance of the current and she
drove the federal ship straight to the bottom , taking part of her crew
with her. The bow of Albemarle was pulled under water and she too would have sunk if Southfield had not rolled over when she hit the bottom and released the ram. Captain Flusser of Miami was killed when a shell he fired at point-blank range rebounded off Albemarle`s armour and exploded on Miami. Despite the death of their captain, Miami`s
crew tried to board the Confederate ship but were driven back by musket
fire and then used her speed to avoid the ram and escaped into
Albemarle Sound.
Now that the river was clear of federal ships
General Hoke attacked and carried, with heavy losses to the confederate
troops, the defences of the town, assisted by Albermarle who fired her two guns into the forts all day.
On 5 May battle was joined between Albemarle and a captured steamer, Bombshell, which were escorting the steamer Cotton Plant,laden with troops, down the Roanoake, and four federal side-paddlers Mattabesett, Sassacus, Wyalusing and Miami coming up Albemarle Sound. Albemarle opened fire first from her bow gun, the shells wounding six men on one of the two 100-pounder Parrott rifles on the Mattabesett, then attempted to ram her. The paddler managed to round the ram`s bow, closely followed by the Sassacuswhich
opened up a broadside of solid 9" and 100-pound shot, all of which
bounced off the sloping armour of the confederate ship. The Bombshell was a softer target and was hulled by each shot from Sassucus`s broadside. She surrendered, and was ordered to pull out of the action and anchor. When he found that he had Albemarle broadside on at a range of about 400 yards, Lieut. Cdr. Roe of Sassucus
decided to ram her and called for all the steam that could be raised.
The paddler struck the iron hull full and square ripping away the
timbers off her own bow and twisting off the bronze beak with which she
was shod The two ships remained entangled together but the crew of Albemarlerecovered
quickly and fired two shells into the enemy hull which was almost
touching the end of the gun barrel. One punctured the boilers, still
full of steam, sending jets of steam and boiling water through the
ship, scalding 13 of her crew.The other federal ships remained stopped
while Sassucis broke away and drifted out of range. Miami attempted to use her torpedo and enmesh the ram`s propellor with a seine net but without success and Albemarle steamed back into the Roanoke where she was moored at Plymouth.
By
the autumn the Federal Government decided something must be done about
the situation in North Carolina and the navy discussed a number of
plans for destroying Albemarle. Commander William Cushing USN
was authorized to find two small steam launches to be fitted out as
spar-torpedo-boats. He found two suitable 30 foot picket boats building
in New York; and he fitted them with a torpedo, invented by Engineer
Lay of the USN, which was mounted at the end of a fourteen foot spar. A
12-pounder howitzer was mounted in the bow. One of the boats was lost
on the way to Norfolk, but he took the other, with a crew of seven
officers and men, to the federal ships waiting in the Sound off the
mouth of the Roanoke.
The torpedo contained an air chamber which allowed it to float in a
vertical position. Pulling out the pin let a grape ball fall on a
percussion cap which ignited the powder charge in the lower chamber.
The device, at the end of a 14 ft. spar was released by pulling a
lanyard when it was under the enemy hull.
On the night of 27 October they entered the river with a small cutter
in tow.The men in this had the job of surprising the picket which had
been placed on a schooner alongside the wreck of the Southfield,
a mile below Plymouth, and prevent them firing warning rockets.In the
event they went past unchallenged and Cdr. Cushing decided to use his
22 men to board the ram and try and take her out into the stream, but
as they approached the wharf they were hailed and this was quickly
followed by heavy fire from the ship and the shore. By the light of a
fire on the bank Cushing now discovered that Albemarle was
protected against torpedo attack by a boom of floating logs; however
the logs, after long immersion in the water, were covered in slime and
the picket boat easily rode over them. Cushing stood in the bow and
pulled the detaching and firing lines to explode the torpedo under the
ram`s hull at the same time as a canister of grape struck the boat
throwing them all into the freezing water. He called on his men to save
themselves, stripped off his uniform, and swam out into the stream
while boats searched for survivors. He was not seen and eventually,
finding mud beneath his feet, he lay exhausted,half out of the water
until daylight. The sun brought welcome warmth and he found that he was
on the outskirts of Plymouth under the parapet of a fort. In the
afternoon he managed to board a small skiff and paddled down the
river until he reached the safety of a federal picket vessel. His
attack
had been successful. Albemarle had "a hole in her bottom big enough
to drive a wagon in." She was resting in eight feet of water with her
upper works above the surface. Her captain, Alexander Wharley CSN, who
had been appointed to her about a month earlier, salvaged the guns and
shells and used them to defend the town against the subsequent federal
attack until he could see further resistance was fruitless.
