CSS Albemarle

CSS ALBEMARLE was built in the Roanoke River near Hamilton, N.C. and Fort Branch, under the supervision of her first commanding officer, Comdr. J. W. Cooke, CSN. She was one of the most successful of the Confederate ironclads, along with the Virginia and Arkansas.

She was commissioned on April 17th, 1864. It is said that the last of the armor plate was attached as she steamed down the Roanoke River. On April 19th she lead an attack on the Union forces at Plymouth, N.C., during which Southfield was rammed and sunk and Miami, Ceres, and Whitehead were forced to withdraw. Plymouth surrendered to the Confederate forces the next day.

USS Sassacus ramming the Confederate ironclad Albemarle, in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, 5 May 1864.

On May 5th, 1864, the Albemarle, accompanied by CSS Bombshell, former United States Army transport, attacked a Union squadron below Plymouth during which Bombshell was captured. The Albemarle received only damage to one gun and other light damage which caused her to lose speed.

Picket Boat Number One, a steam launch, was built in 1864 for use in support of the U.S. Navy's blockade of the Confederacy. Outfitted with a spar-torpedo, she could also be employed to attack larger enemy vessels. On the dark night of 27-28 October 1864, Lieutenant William B. Cushing and a crew of 14 men took Picket Boat Number One up river to Plymouth, North Carolina. In one of the Civil War's most daring naval actions, they attacked the Confederate ironclad Albemarle, sinking it with the spar torpedo. Only Lt. Cushing and one other man escaped, and Picket Boat Number One was lost, but the Union forces on the North Carolina sounds were freed of the great threat presented by the continued existence of the Albemarle.

She was taken up the Roanoke River for repairs; however she was not to see combat again. Before the repairs were completed, Albemarle was torpedoed and sunk during a night raid on October 27th, 1864. This was accomplished by an improvised torpedo boat commanded by Lt. W. B. Cushing, USN.

Albemarle was raised after the Union forces captured Plymouth. In late April 1865, she was towed to Norfolk Navy Yard by USS Ceres. There she was condemned as a prize, and purchased by the Navy who sold her in October 1867.