Description
Missouri was 183 feet (55.8 m) long overall, had a beam of 53 feet 8 inches (16.4 m) and a draft of 8 feet 6 inches (2.6 m). Her casemate extended for most of the length of the ship and was 130 feet 6 inches (39.8 m) long. It partially enclosed her 22-foot-6-inch (6.9 m) diameter stern paddle wheel in a recess at the aft end of the casemate; the upper 8 feet 4 inches (2.5 m) of the paddle wheel protruded above the casemate and was totally unprotected. [2]
The ship's propulsion machinery was taken from either the steamboats Grand Era or T. W. Roberts. It consisted of two single-cylinder, poppet valve steam engines with a bore of 24 inches (61 cm) and a 7-foot-6-inch (2.3 m) stroke. [3] These used steam provided by four horizontal return-flue boilers that were 26 ft (7.9 m) long and 40 in (1 m) in diameter [4] that were connected to a single funnel. [5] Other machinery was taken from the supply vessel CSS Paul Jones. [6] During her initial sea trials on 17 June 1863, she had a maximum speed of 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) going upstream [7] only half the speed as had been promised. [8] After the installation of a donkey engine to power a 3-foot (0.91 m) fan, the bilge pumps and a capstan a few months later, she reached a speed of 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) against a 2–3-mile-per-hour (3.2–4.8 km/h) current. [9]
Missouri's armor consisted of 4.5-inch-thick (114 mm) railroad T-rails, laid alternately with the crowns up and down. They were spiked to the backing of 23 inches (580 mm) of yellow pine, but not closely together enough to give them a solid surface. On the sides of the ship, they were laid diagonally, but were vertical on the bow and stern faces of the casemate. The armor extended approximately 6 feet (1.8 m) below the waterline. The casemate was sloped at an angle of 30°. The deck fore and aft of the casemate was also protected by T-rails. At the forward end of the casemate was a pilothouse that was raised 19 inches (480 mm) above the deck. [10] She was built of green timber, caulked with cotton and was riddled with leaks; [11] the leaking was largely due to the use of the green timber. [12] Despite her three rudders, her stern wheel made her difficult to steer. [13]
The casemate had eight gun ports, two in the bow face and three on each side, although only three guns were mounted in the ship. A smoothbore 11-inch (279 mm) Dahlgren pivot gun was mounted in the starboard forward position. It could fire out of the starboard bow port or the forward starboard broadside port. [14] It weighed approximately 16,000 pounds (7,300 kg) and could fire a 136-pound (61.7 kg) shell up to a range of 3,650 yards (3,340 m) at an elevation of 15°. [15] An old 32-pounder (14.5 kg) siege gun was in the equivalent position on the port side of the ship. [4] The characteristics of this gun cannot be reliably determined because the United States produced a multitude of 32-pounder guns before the Civil War, but none of them were designated as siege guns. [16] The third gun was a smoothbore 9-inch (229 mm) Dahlgren pivot gun that could fire out of either of the two aft broadside gun ports. It weighed approximately 9,200 pounds (4,200 kg) and could fire a 72.5-pound (32.9 kg) shell up to a range of 3,357 yards (3,070 m) at an elevation of 15°. [17] The two Dahlgren guns had been salvaged from the wreck of the Union ironclad USS Indianola and the 32-pounder piece was likely captured from the Gosport Navy Yard. [18] No guns were provided for the two center broadside gun ports. [4] Different cannons were originally slated to be assigned to Missouri, but those were intercepted by John C. Pemberton for use in the defenses of the Mississippi cities of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf. [19]
Construction and service
The Confederate Navy Department authorized the construction of one or more ironclad warships at Shreveport on 3 October 1862 and Lieutenant Jonathan H. Carter contracted for two ships on 1 November. [20] One contract was placed with riverboat captains Thomas Moore and John Smoker for one ironclad, with the other being awarded to George Fitch; the Fitch ironclad project was postponed in favor of the other and was eventually canceled. No complete blueprint of the ship is known to survive, but it is believed that she was designed by Chief Naval Constructor John L. Porter. [21] The contract with Moore and Smoker specified a cost of $336,500 to be paid in installments. [22] The keel of the first ship was laid in December and she was launched on 14 April 1863. By June, she was complete enough for a trial run. The ship was turned over to the Confederate Navy on 12 September 1863 [4] and commissioned a week later [23] after the high-water season on the Red River had ended, [24] although she did not receive her guns until between November 1863 and March 1864. [4] Carter proposed to name the vessel Caddo after a Native American tribe, but it was instead decided to name her Missouri after the state and its erstwhile Confederate government. [25] First Lieutenant Charles Fauntleroy was appointed as her captain, although he told Carter that "he hoped the damned boat would sink" and that he "never intended to serve on her if he could help it". [26] He desired a command on an ocean-going vessel, rather than his assignment to the inland ironclad. [27] Fauntleroy was transferred in July to command a blockade runner, and Carter, who had previously commanded the gunboat CSS General Polk and was in Shreveport on direct orders from Confederate States Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory, was placed in command. Much of Missouri's crew was transferred from CSS Harriet Lane, [28] while others were taken from the army. In mid-December 1863, Carter requested 72 crewmen, a blacksmith, and a carpenter for Missouri. [29] Crew conditions on the ironclad were unpleasant, and the ship's crew was plagued by desertions among the army men. [30] Low water prevented Missouri from playing any part in the Red River Campaign of early 1864. [31] Her movements were also hampered by a lack of fuel. [32] In September, Carter commanded an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Federal gunboat USS Rattler using men from the crews of Missouri and CSS Webb. [33]
In March 1865, the river began to rise and Missouri was able to leave the Shreveport area for the first time. She reached Alexandria, Louisiana, on 8 April and anchored where she could defend the town. [34] In order to travel to Alexandria, fuel for the vessel had to be requisitioned from plantations along the way. [35] Part of her crew was then transferred to Webb, [36] which made an unsuccessful attempt to escape into the Gulf of Mexico on April 23. [37] Carter surrendered the ship to Union forces on 3 June, the last Confederate ironclad to surrender. [38] After her armor was removed, Missouri was sold at public auction on 29 November at Mound City, Illinois [20] to be scrapped. [39]
CSS Texas was the third and last Columbia-class casemate ironclad built for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. Not begun until 1864 and intended to become part of the James River Squadron, she saw no action before being captured by Union forces while still fitting out. CSS Texas was reputed to have been one of the very best-constructed Confederate ironclads, second only to CSS Mississippi.
CSS Arkansas was the lead ship of her class of two casemate ironclads built for the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Completed in 1862, she saw combat in the Western Theater when she steamed through a United States Navy fleet at Vicksburg in July. Arkansas was set on fire and destroyed by her crew after her engines broke down several weeks later. Her remains lie under a levee above Baton Rouge, Louisiana at 30°29′14″N91°12′5″W.
Atlanta was a casemate ironclad that served in the Confederate and Union Navies during the American Civil War. She was converted from a British-built blockade runner named Fingal by the Confederacy after she made one run to Savannah, Georgia. After several failed attempts to attack Union blockaders, the ship was captured by two Union monitors in 1863 when she ran aground. Atlanta was floated off, repaired, and rearmed, serving in the Union Navy for the rest of the war. She spent most of her time deployed on the James River supporting Union forces there. The ship was decommissioned in 1865 and placed in reserve. Several years after the end of the war, Atlanta was sold to Haiti, but was lost at sea in December 1869 on her delivery voyage.
CSS Charleston was a casemate ironclad ram built for the Confederate Navy (CSN) at Charleston, South Carolina during the American Civil War. Funded by the State of South Carolina as well as donations by patriotic women's associations in the city, she was turned over to the Confederate Navy and defended the city until advancing Union troops that threatened Charleston caused her to be destroyed in early 1865 lest she be captured. Her wreck was salvaged after the war and the remains have been obliterated by subsequent dredging.
CSS Tennessee was a casemate ironclad ram built for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. She served as the flagship of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, commander of the Mobile Squadron, after her commissioning. She was captured in 1864 by the Union Navy during the Battle of Mobile Bay and then participated in the Union's subsequent Siege of Fort Morgan. Tennessee was decommissioned after the war and sold in 1867 for scrap.
CSS Baltic was an ironclad warship that served in the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. A towboat before the war, she was purchased by the state of Alabama in December 1861 for conversion into an ironclad. After being transferred to the Confederate Navy in May 1862 as an ironclad, she served on Mobile Bay off the Gulf of Mexico. Baltic's condition in Confederate service was such that naval historian William N. Still Jr. has described her as "a nondescript vessel in many ways". Over the next two years, parts of the ship's wooden structure were affected by wood rot. Her armor was removed to be put onto the ironclad CSS Nashville in 1864. By that August, Baltic had been decommissioned. Near the end of the war, she was taken up the Tombigbee River, where she was captured by Union forces on May 10, 1865. An inspection of Baltic the next month found that her upper hull and deck were rotten and that her boilers were unsafe. She was sold on December 31, and was likely broken up in 1866.
CSS Palmetto State was one of six Richmond class casemate ironclad rams built for the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Completed in 1862, she defended Charleston, South Carolina and was burnt in 1865 to prevent her capture by advancing Union troops.
CSS Richmond was the name ship of her class of six casemate ironclads built for the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Completed during 1862 the ship was assigned to the James River Squadron where she mostly supported Confederate forces near Richmond, Virginia. She was burned in April 1865 to prevent her capture by Union forces.
USS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship spent most of her career blockading the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1863–65. New Ironsides bombarded the fortifications defending Charleston in 1863 during the First and Second Battles of Charleston Harbor. At the end of 1864 and the beginning of 1865 she bombarded the defenses of Wilmington in the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher.
CSS Fredericksburg was a casemate ironclad that served as part of the James River Squadron of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Laid down in 1862 and Launched the following year, she did not see action until 1864 due to delays in receiving her armor and guns. After passing through the obstructions at Drewry's Bluff in May 1864, she participated in several minor actions on the James River and fought in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm from September 29 to October 1. On January 23 and 24, 1865, she was part of the Confederate fleet at the Battle of Trent's Reach, and was one of only two Confederate ships to make it past the obstructions at Trent's Reach. After the Confederate attack failed, Fredericksburg withdrew with the rest of the James River Squadron. On April 3, as the Confederates were abandoning Richmond, Fredericksburg and the other vessels of the James River Squadron were burned. Her wreck was located in the 1980s, buried under sediment.
USS Benton was an ironclad river gunboat in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for American senator Thomas Hart Benton. Benton was a former center-wheel catamaran snagboat and was converted by James B. Eads, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1861 and commissioned February 24, 1862 as part of the Army's Western Gunboat Flotilla.
CSS Muscogee was an casemate ironclad built in Columbus, Georgia for the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Her original paddle configuration was judged a failure when she could not be launched on the first attempt in 1864. She had to be rebuilt to use dual propeller propulsion. Later renamed CSS Jackson and armed with four 7-inch (178 mm) and two 6.4-inch (163 mm) cannons. She was captured while still fitting out and was set ablaze by Union troops in April 1865. Her wreck was salvaged in 1962–1963 and turned over to the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus for display. The ironclad's remains were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
CSS New Orleans was a floating battery used by the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Converted from a floating drydock in 1861, she was commissioned on October 14, 1861. The vessel was unable to move under her own power and lacked facilities for her crew to live aboard, so CSS Red Rover was used to move the floating battery and house her crew. She was then sent upriver to assist in the Confederate defense of Columbus, Kentucky, arriving there in December. After the Confederates abandoned Columbus in March 1862, New Orleans was moved to Island No. 10 near New Madrid, Missouri. The Confederate defenders of Island No. 10 surrendered on April 8, and New Orleans was scuttled that day. Not fully sunk, the floating battery drifted downriver to the New Madrid area, where it was captured by Union forces. In Union hands, New Orleans was used as a floating drydock until the Confederates burned her in August or September 1863.
CSS Tuscaloosa was an ironclad warship that served in the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Construction began in May 1862, under a contract with Henry D. Bassett. Her engines were taken from the steamboat Chewala, and she was armored with 4 inches (10 cm) of iron and armed with four cannons. In January 1863, she was launched, and traveled down to Mobile, Alabama for service on Mobile Bay. Both Tuscaloosa and her sister ship CSS Huntsville were found to be too slow for practical use, and were relegated to service as floating batteries. Union forces captured Mobile in April 1865, and Tuscaloosa was scuttled on April 12, as she was unable to escape due to an inability to steam against the current on the Spanish River. Her wreck was discovered in the 1980s.
CSS Nashville was a large side-wheel Nashville-class steam casemate ironclad built by the Confederates late in the American Civil War.
CSS Wilmington was an unnamed casemate ironclad built for the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was never officially named and is referred to by historians by the name of the city in which she was built. Wilmington was still under construction during the February 1865 Battle of Wilmington and was destroyed to prevent her capture by Union troops after their victory.
CSS Maurepas was a sidewheel steamer that briefly served as a gunboat in the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Built in 1858 in Indiana as Grosse Tete, the vessel was used in commercial trade until 1860 and then delivered mail until 1861, when she was acquired by the Confederate Navy.
CSS Pamlico was a sidewheel steamer that served in the Confederate States Navy during the early stages of the American Civil War. Originally a passenger vessel on Lake Pontchartrain, she was purchased by Confederate authorities on July 10, 1861, and converted into a gunboat. She participated in two minor naval actions in the vicinities of Horn Island and Ship Island in December, before taking part in two more small battles defending the Pass Christian area in March and April 1862. In late April, Union Navy ships passed the defenses of New Orleans, Louisiana. After ferrying Confederate troops out of the city, Pamlico was burned by her crew on Lake Pontchartrain on April 25 to prevent capture.
CSS Pontchartrain was a gunboat that served in the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Built in 1859 for passenger and cotton trade, she was purchased by the Confederates in October 1862. After seeing action against Union land positions during the campaigns for New Madrid, Missouri, and Island Number Ten, she was transferred to serve on the Arkansas River and the White River. In June 1862, two of her cannons were taken to a land fortification at St. Charles, Arkansas, where part of her crew saw action in the Battle of St. Charles while manning the guns. Her other cannons were then offloaded at Fort Hindman, where more of her crew were captured while fighting on land at the Battle of Arkansas Post in January 1863. Pontchartrain herself remained inactive at Little Rock, Arkansas, and was burned to prevent capture in September 1863 when the Confederates evacuated the city.
The Huntsville-class ironclads consisted of two casemate ironclads ordered by the Confederate States Navy in 1862 to defend Mobile, Alabama, during the American Civil War. Completed the following year, they used propulsion machinery taken from steamboats, and were intended to be armored with 4 inches (102 mm) of wrought iron and armed with four cannons. Both CSS Tuscaloosa and her sister ship CSS Huntsville were found to be too slow for practical use, and were relegated to service as floating batteries. Union forces captured Mobile in April 1865, and the sisters were scuttled on April 12, as they were unable to escape due to an inability to steam against the current on the Spanish River.
Confederate States