View source for CSS Raleigh (1864)

{{No footnotes|date=August 2023}}
{{other ships|CSS Raleigh}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
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 |country=Confederate States
 |flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}}
 |name=''Raleigh''
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 |builder= Cassidey Shipyard, Wilmington in New Hanover County, North Carolina 
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 |laid_down=1863
 |launched=1864
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 |commissioned=1864
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 |fate=Ran aground, broken keel, May 7, 1864
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 |length={{convert|150|ft|m|abbr=on}} 
 |beam={{convert|32|ft|m|abbr=on}} 
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 |propulsion=Steam engine
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 |complement=188 officers and enlisted men
 |armament=Two 6-inch Brooke rifled cannons; two smoothbore cannons
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'''CSS ''Raleigh''''' was a steam-powered Civil War [[casemate ironclad]]. She was fitted with a [[spar torpedo]] instead of an iron ram and was built in 1863–1864 by the [[Confederate States Navy]] at [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], [[North Carolina]]. While she was being built her commander was [[Lieutenant]] [[John Wilkinson (CSN)]]. She was put into [[Ship commissioning|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 {{ship|CSS|North Carolina}}, she had been [[Keel laying|laid down]] and [[Ceremonial ship launching|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 {{sclass|Richmond|ironclad|1}}s 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 in 1846, fifteen years before to the war. 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'' [[Draft (hull)|drew]] {{convert|13|ft|m}} of water, {{convert|6|in|cm}} less than the ''North Carolina''. [[Flag Officer]] William F. Lynch quickly decided to take his new ironclad over the bar at [[New Inlet]], North Carolina 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 {{USS|Britannia}} and {{USS|Nansemond|1862|6}}, off New Inlet.

The plan was ill-conceived, as the ''Richmond''-class ironclads, being designed for harbor defense and calm water, were not seaworthy. Nonetheless, the officers and men of ''Raleigh'' prepared their ship for battle. The engagement that followed was shrouded in darkness and marked by confusion. ''Raleigh'', because of her slow speed on open sea, was unable to close with the Federals. Flares and cannon fire alerted the rest of the blockading squadron, but most commanders, unaware of the ironclad's presence, assumed a [[blockade runner]] had been cornered. For the rest of the night, ''Raleigh'' steamed blindly through the blockading squadron, unnoticed. At daybreak, the ironclad returned to New Inlet and crossed the bar at 7:15&nbsp;a.m. The "battle," as such, was over, neither side sustaining serious damage or gaining advantage.

After entering Cape Fear, ''Raleigh'' turned south, but soon ran hard aground on a bar known as "the Rip". As the tide went out, the now unsupported weight of the ironclad's armored [[casemate]], cannon, and machinery bore down heavily on the [[aft]] section of her [[keel]]. Unable to sustain the added weight pressure, ''Raleigh'' "broke her back", resulting in a total loss of the new ironclad after serving just one week in the Confederate Navy. Salvage crews reclaimed her iron plating, both her [[Brooke rifle]]s, both [[smoothbore]] cannon, and shipped her boilers to {{ship|CSS|Chattahoochee}}, then being repaired at [[Columbus, Georgia]].

In 1994 the wreck was investigated by the [[North Carolina State]] Underwater Archaeology Unit with help from students of [[East Carolina University]].

==References==
* {{cite book |last1=Bisbee |first1=Saxon T. |title=Engines of Rebellion: Confederate Ironclads and Steam Engineering in the American Civil War |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, Alabama |isbn=978-0-81731-986-1|date=2018}}
*{{cite book |last1=Canney |first1=Donald L. |title=The Confederate Steam Navy 1861-1865 |date=2015 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing|location=Atglen, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-0-7643-4824-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Civil War Navies 1855–1883 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York|year=2006|series=The U.S. Navy Warship Series |isbn=0-415-97870-X}}
* {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships |year=1984 |publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Still|first=William N. Jr.|title=Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads|isbn=0-87249-454-3|orig-date=1971|year=1985|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|location=Columbia, South Carolina}}
* Still, William N., Jr., ''Confederate Shipbuilding'' (1987).

{{DANFS}}

{{CSN ironclads}}
{{1864 shipwrecks}}
{{coord missing|North Carolina}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raleigh}}
[[Category:Ironclad warships of the Confederate States Navy|Raleigh (1864)]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in rivers]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Ships built in Wilmington, North Carolina]]
[[Category:1864 ships]]
[[Category:Torpedo boats of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in May 1864]]