CSS Raleigh (1864)
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Name: | Raleigh |
| Builder: | Cassidey Shipyard, Wilmington in New Hanover County, North Carolina |
| Laid down: | 1863 |
| Launched: | 1864 |
| Commissioned: | 1864 |
| Fate: | Ran aground, broken keel, May 7, 1864 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 150 ft (46 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draft: | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
| Complement: | 188 officers and enlisted men |
| Armament: | Two 6" Brooke rifled cannons; two smoothbore cannons |
CSS Raleigh was a steam-powered casemate ironclad fitted with a spar torpedo instead of an iron ram; she was built by the Confederate States Navy at Wilmington, North Carolina in 1863-64, with Lieutenant John Wilkinson (1821-1891), CSN, commanding. She was then put into commission on April 30, 1864 under the command of Lieutenant J. Pembroke Jones, CSN.
Built to chief CSN constructor John L. Porter's similar plans for those of the ironclad CSS North Carolina, she had been laid down and launched at the foot of Church Street; her fitting out was completed by the shipyard J. L. Cassidey & Sons.
CSS Raleigh was one of two Richmond class ironclads built for the Confederate Navy at Wilmington during the Civil War. A total of six Richmond-class ironclads were laid down at Richmond, Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah in the spring of 1862. Chief naval constructor John L. Porter had designed these armored steam ships for harbor defense, adapting plans he had originally conceived prior to the war, in 1846. On April 20, 1864 the newly completed Raleigh steamed down the Cape Fear River and joined her sister ironclad CSS North Carolina, which was already in CSN service at Smithville.
Raleigh drew 13-feet of water, 6-inches less than the by then leaking and waterlogged North Carolina (North Carolina's green hull timbers had become infested with sea worms, a condition that eventually caused her to founder). Flag Officer William F. Lynch quickly decided to take his new ironclad over the bar at New Inlet, NC and attack the Union blockading squadron at sea.
On May 6 Raleigh emerged from the Cape Fear River and stood out to the Atlantic, accompanied by CSS Yadkin and CSS Equator, where she engaged six Federal blockaders, including the USS Britannia and the USS Nansemond, off New Inlet.
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