View source for CSS Tennessee (1863)

{{Short description|Ironclad warship built by the Confederate Navy}}
{{other ships|CSS Tennessee|USS Tennessee}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=August 2016}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= CSSTennesseeNH60335.jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Tennessee'' in 1865
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=Confederate States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}}
|Ship name= ''Tennessee''
|Ship namesake=[[State of Tennessee]]
|Ship builder=Henry D. Bassett
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down= October 1862
|Ship launched= February 1863
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed= 
|Ship commissioned= 16 February 1864
|Ship in service=
|Ship captured=At the [[Battle of Mobile Bay]], 5 August 1864
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country= United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1864}}
|Ship name= ''Tennessee''
|Ship acquired=5 August 1864
|Ship commissioned= 5 August 1864
|Ship decommissioned= 19 August 1865
|Ship fate= Sold for [[ship breaking|scrap]], 27 November 1867
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship type= [[Casemate ironclad]]
|Ship displacement= {{convert|1273|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship length= {{convert|209|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|48|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|14|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship power=4 [[boiler (steam generator)|boiler]]s
|Ship propulsion=*2 Shafts
*2 [[Marine steam engine|Steam engines]]
|Ship speed= {{convert|5|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= 
|Ship complement=133 officers and enlisted men
|Ship armament=*2 × {{convert|7|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} [[Brooke rifle]]s
*4 × {{convert|6.4|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} Brooke rifles
*[[naval ram|ram]]
|Ship armor=*[[Casemate]]: {{convert|5|-|6|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
*[[Deck (ship)|Deck]]: {{convert|2|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox service record
|is_ship=yes
|label= 
|partof=
|codes=
|commanders=[[Lieutenant]] [[James D. Johnston]]
|operations=*[[Battle of Mobile Bay]]
*[[Siege of Fort Morgan]]
|victories=
|awards=
}}
|}
[[File:Admiral_Buchanan_pennant_flag.png|thumb|right|The [[Pennant (flag)|Pennant]] of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, flown from the CSS ''Tennessee'']]
[[File:Admiral's_Rank_flag_of_Admiral_Franklin_Buchanan_(ca._1864).png|thumb|right|Admiral's Rank flag of Admiral Buchanan, similarly flown from the CSS ''Tennessee'']]

'''CSS ''Tennessee''''' was a [[casemate ironclad]] [[naval ram|ram]] built for the [[Confederate Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. She served as the [[flagship]] of [[Admiral]] [[Franklin Buchanan]] (who would later be captured in the same ship), 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 [[ship breaking|scrap]].

==Design, description and construction==

''Tennessee'' was built at [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]], [[Alabama]], where she was commissioned on February 16, 1864. {{ship|CSS|Baltic}} towed her to [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], where she was [[Fitting-out|fitted out]].

''Tennessee'' was laid down in October 1862, hull and other woodwork turned out by Henry D. Bassett, who launched her the following February, ready for towing to Mobile to be engined and armed. Her steam plant came from the steamer {{USS|Alonzo Child}}. Her casemate design differed materially from {{ship|CSS|Columbia}} and {{ship|CSS|Texas}}, but the iron plate was the same 2&nbsp;by&nbsp;10 in (50 by 250&nbsp;mm) as used on {{ship|CSS|Huntsville}} and {{ship|CSS|Tuscaloosa|ironclad|6}} but triple thickness instead of double; her iron plate was made by the [[Shelby Iron Company]] in [[Shelby, Alabama]]. A fearsome detail of her defensive armament was a "hot water attachment to her boilers for repelling boarders, throwing one water stream from forward of the casemate and one aft."

The vicissitudes implicit in creating such an ironclad are graphically conveyed by Admiral Franklin Buchanan, writing September 20, 1863 to Confederate Navy Secretary [[Stephen Mallory]]:

<blockquote>The work on the ''Tennessee'' has progressed for some weeks past, under Mr. Pierce, as fast as the means in his power would permit. There is much delay for want of plate and bolt iron. It was impossible to iron both sponsons at the same time, as the vessel had to be careened several feet to enable them to put the iron on. Even then several of the workmen were waist deep in the water to accomplish it — to careen her, large beams 12 feet (3.7 m) square had to be run out of her posts and secured, on which several tons of iron had to be placed, and during the progress of putting on the sponson iron the shield iron could not be put on. The work has been carried on night and day when it could be done advantageously. I visited the ''Nashville'' and ''Tennessee'' frequently and, to secure and control the services of the mechanics, I have had them all conscripted and detailed to work under my orders. Previously, they were very independent and stopped working when they pleased.</blockquote>

(Joseph Pierce, referred to above, was Acting Naval Constructor in the Mobile area.)
[[File:JamesDJohnstonCSN.jpg|left|thumb|[[Lieutenant]] (later [[Commander]]) [[James D. Johnston]], [[Confederate States Navy|CSN]], commander of CSS ''Tennessee'']]

''Tennessee'' became flagship of Admiral Buchanan, and served in action in the [[Battle of Mobile Bay]] on August 5, 1864. On that morning ''Tennessee'' and wooden gunboats {{ship|CSS|Gaines}}, {{ship|CSS|Morgan}}, and {{ship|CSS|Selma}}, steamed into combat against Admiral [[David Farragut|David G. Farragut]]'s powerful fleet<ref name=hmdb>{{cite web|title=The Battle of Mobile Bay: "A Deadly Rain of Shot and Shell"|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=68815|website=Historical Marker Database|access-date=25 September 2015}}</ref> of four ironclad [[Monitor warship type|monitors]] and 14 wooden steamers. Unable to ram the [[United States|Union]] ships because of their superior speed, ''Tennessee'' delivered a vigorous fire on the Federals at close range. The [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] gunboats were sunk or dispersed. Farragut's fleet steamed up into the bay and anchored. Buchanan might have held ''Tennessee'' under the fort's protection but steamed after the Federal fleet and engaged despite overwhelming odds. The ram became the target for the entire Union fleet. ''Tennessee'' was rammed by several ships, and her vulnerable steering chains (which, oddly, lay in exposed trenches on the after deck) were carried away by the heavy gunfire. Unable to maneuver, ''Tennessee'' was battered repeatedly by heavy solid shot from her adversaries. With two of her men killed, Admiral Buchanan and eight others wounded, and increasingly severe damage being inflicted on her, ''Tennessee'' was forced to surrender.{{clear}}

==USS ''Tennessee''==
[[File:CSS Tennessee CDV by McPherson & Oliver.png|thumb|[[Carte de visite]] image of the ship]]
Immediately following her capture and repair, ''Tennessee'' was commissioned in the [[United States Navy]], [[Lieutenant|Acting Volunteer Lieutenant]] Pierre Giraud in command. The ironclad participated in the Federal [[Siege of Fort Morgan|assault on Fort Morgan]] on August 23 which resulted in the fort's capitulation that same day. That autumn, she moved from [[Mobile, Alabama]], to [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], for repairs before joining the [[Mississippi Squadron]]. She served on the [[Mississippi River]] through the end of the war in April 1865 and briefly thereafter. On August 19, 1865, ''Tennessee'' was placed out of commission and was laid up at New Orleans. There, she remained until November 27, 1867, when she was sold at auction to J. F. Armstrong for scrapping. Though the remainder of the vessel was scrapped, two 7-inch [[Brooke rifle]]s and two 6.4-inch Brooke rifles were preserved and are still on display in the Old weapons exhibit in East Willard Park at the [[Washington Navy Yard]], [[Washington, D.C.]] One of her 6.4-inch (160&nbsp;mm) double-banded Brooke rifled cannon is on display at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief U. S. Atlantic Command at the Norfolk, Virginia, Naval base. One of her 7-inch [[Brooke rifle]]s is on display at the city hall of Selma, Alabama, where it was cast.

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
* [[List of ships captured in the 19th century#American Civil War|List of captured ships in the American Civil War]]
* [[Bibliography of early American naval history#American Civil War|Bibliography of American Civil War naval history]]
{{commons category-inline|CSS Tennessee (ship, 1863)}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==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=Friend|first=Jack|title=West Wind, Flood Tide: The Battle of Mobile Bay|year=2004|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=978-1-59114-292-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Kinney|first=John C.|title=Battles and Leaders of the Civil War |orig-year= 1894 |volume=IV: Retreat With Honor|publisher=Castle|location=Secacus, New Jersey |isbn=0-89009-572-8|pages=379–400|date=n.d.|chapter=Farragut at Mobile Bay}}
* {{cite book|last=Konstam|first=Angus|title=Duel of the Ironclads: USS ''Monitor'' & CSS ''Virginia'' at Hampton Roads 1862|year=2003|publisher=Osprey|location=Oxford, UK |isbn=1-84176-721-2}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/cfa9/tennessee.htm|title=''CSS Tennessee''|work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|publisher=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] (NH&HC)|access-date=25 January 2013}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t3/tennessee-ii.htm|title=''USS Tennessee''|work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|publisher=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] (NH&HC)|access-date=25 January 2013}}
* {{cite book|last1=Olmstead|first1=Edwin|last2=Stark|first2=Wayne E.|last3=Tucker |first3=Spencer C.|year=1997|title=The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon|publisher=Museum Restoration Service|location=Alexandria Bay, New York |isbn=0-88855-012-X}}
* {{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. |author-link=William N. Still Jr. |year=1985 |title=Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads |orig-year=1971 |location=Columbia, South Carolina |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |isbn=0-87249-454-3}}
* {{cite book|last=United States|first=Naval War Records Office|title=Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion|url=http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moawar;idno=ofre2001|series=Series II|volume=1: Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion; Series II – Volume 1: Statistical Data of Union and Confederate Ships; Muster Roles of Confederate Government Vessels; Letters of Marque and Reprisals; Confederate Department Investigations|year=1921|publisher=Government Printing Office|location=Washington, D. C.}}

==External links==
* {{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-us-cs/csa-sh/csash-sz/tenesee.htm|title=Online Library of Selected Images: Confederate Ships - CSS ''Tennessee'' (Later USS ''Tennessee'')|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203082440/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-us-cs/csa-sh/csash-sz/tenesee.htm|archive-date=2012-12-03|access-date=2018-05-06}} - Photos of CSS ''Tennessee''
{{DANFS| Confederate service|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/cfa9/tennessee.htm Union service|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t3/tennessee-ii.htm}}

{{CSN ironclads}}
{{Union ironclads}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennessee (1863)}}
[[Category:Ironclad warships of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships of the Union Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Selma, Alabama]]
[[Category:1863 ships]]
[[Category:Vessels captured by the United States Navy]]