March 24, 1864---The C.S.S. ALBEMARLE

MARCH 24, 1864:      

The double-hulled ironclad ram C.S.S. ALBEMARLE sets out on her maiden voyage today. Feared as a kind of Confederate superweapon, the ALBEMARLE had the sloping superstructure common to most ironclads of the day, had two powerful 6.4 inch Brooke Rifled Cannons (the Confederate version of the Union Parrott Gun),  several removable swivel guns on deck, and two layers of iron plating totaling four inches in thickness.  At 158 feet in length, she was a ram armed with torpedoes (e.g., mines). Her bowsprit was razor sharp, designed to pierce wooden hulls. She had two engines that could work up a total of 400 horsepower, and her top speed was estimated at 5 knots. 

She was built in the shallows inland from the Union-held North Carolina coast. While under construction the ALBEMARLE was immune to attack from deeper-draft Union ships. Little was done to disrupt her construction schedule. At first dismissed as “just another ram,” Union officers soon came to rue their inaction as rumors of the ship’s capabilities grew ever more fearsome. Although she was not exactly the terror weapon the Union imagined her to be, in her abbreviated career the C.S.S. ALBEMARLE was ultimately the most successful ram ever built by the Confederacy.  

  

She moved down the Roanoke River on April 17, where she was met by the U.S.S. SOUTHFIELD and the U.S.S. MIAMI towing an obstruction between them. The ALBEMARLE deftly turned, evaded the obstruction, rammed the SOUTHFIELD and sank her. Her ram got caught in the wreckage, and for a moment it appeared that the ALBEMARLE was going to be pulled under, but a quick reversal of engines freed her. The MIAMI fired pointblank at the ALBEMARLE, but the MIAMI’s shell ricocheted back onto her own deck, killing her Commander and several sailors.  The MIAMI withdrew, and the ALBEMARLE moved at a stately pace downriver blasting Union positions but seemingly immune to damage. The ALBEMARLE forced the surrender of Union forces at Fort Comfort, the staging area for a planned action against Richmond, thus saving the Confederate capital for that time.

The ALBEMARLE took up a permanent station in the Roanoke River as a floating fortress that effectively returned the river to Confederate control. On May 5^th, ALBEMARLE in the company of C.S.S. BOMBSHELL, tried to force her way to the Atlantic. The ALBEMARLE and the BOMBSHELL encountered four Union warships. The U.S.S. MATTABESETT, the U.S.S. SASSACUS, and U.S.S. WYALUSING were now in the company of the U.S.S. MIAMI. This sixty gun flotilla easily outmatched the two Brooke Cannons and swivel guns on the ALBEMARLE and the light weapons of the BOMBSHELL. Nevertheless, ALBEMARLE opened fire first, damaging the MATTABESSET, and putting her out of action.

The SASSACUS fired a broadside of 9-inch solid shot (cannonballs), followed up by 100-pound shells, all of which glanced off ALBEMARLE. The C.S.S. BOMBSHELL, however, was badly damaged and struck her colors.  The SASSACUS then rammed the ALBEMARLE, doing more damage to herself than to the Confederate ship, which blasted the SASSACUS at the point where their hulls were in contact. The SASSACUS floated free, but was out of the fight. 

  

The MIAMI tried ramming the ALBEMARLE in turn, losing her own ram in the process, while the WYALUSING tried to foul the ALBEMARLE’s rudder and propellers with net and chain. Neither tactic was successful. Both ships were forced to break off.  More than 500 shells were fired at ALBEMARLE during the battle. Her smokestack was knocked off and her plating dented, but she was otherwise undamaged.   

After this battle, ALBEMARLE successfully dominated the Roanoke River through the summer and autumn of 1864, leaving Confederate blockade runners and naval ships an easy avenue to and from the Confederate shore.  Like a vicious guard dog, ALBEMARLE fired at any blockading ships that came too close; her reputation was such that most Union captains quickly drew back without engaging.

She stayed on station for the rest of her career. On the night of October 27, 1864, U.S. Marines carried out a commando action against ALBEMARLE, managing to attach a mine to her side; the mine exploded at her waterline “leaving a hole large enough to drive a wagon in,” and the ship sank neatly to the bottom of the shallow Roanoke River, her upper works still exposed and the Stainless Banner still flying from her quarter. Even after she was sunk, the Confederacy used her as a gun platform.

The gallant ALBEMARLE was raised and reconditioned by the U.S. Navy in 1865; however, it was decided that she was to be sold, and she went to the scrapper’s yard in 1867.

An operating replica ALBEMARLE was launched in 2002, as part of the Port o’ Plymouth (N.C.) Museum’s C.S.S. ALBEMARLE exhibit.