- CSS Richmond
CSS "Richmond", an
ironclad ram, was built at Gosport (Norfolk) Navy Yard to the design ofJohn L. Porter with money and scrap iron collected by the citizens ofVirginia , whose imagination had been captured by the ironclad CSS "Virginia". Consequently she was sometimes referred to as "Virginia II", "Virginia No. 2" or "Young Virginia" in the South and as "Merrimack No. 2", "New Merrimack" or "Young Merrimack" by Union writers, months before the actual CSS "Virginia II" was ever laid down.Begun in March
1862 , "Richmond" was launchedMay 6 and towed up to the Confederate capital that very night to escape Federal forces again in possession of Norfolk Navy Yard and the lower James River. "Richmond" was thus finished atRichmond, Virginia in July 1862 and placed in commission byCommander Robert B. Pegram , CSN as part of theJames River Squadron . Twenty-two inches of yellow pine and oak plus 4 inches of iron protected her roof and "she is ironed 3½ feet below her load lines," wrote Shipyard SuperintendentJohn H. Burroughs .During
1863 and early1864 the James front was quiet, but from May 1864 momentous events followed in quick succession. The Confederates had three new ironclads inCaptain French Forrest 's squadron there and minor actions were frequent.During 1864 "Richmond", under
Lieutenant William Harwar Parker , CSN, took part in engagements atDutch Gap onAugust 13 ,Fort Harrison onSeptember 29 -October 1 , andChaffin's Bluff onOctober 22 . OnJanuary 23 -24,1865 , she was under heavy fire while aground with "Virginia II" above the obstructions atTrent's Reach — at an angle that caused Federal projectiles to ricochet harmlessly off their casemates. But "Richmond"'s tender, CSS "Scorpion", not thus armored, was severely damaged by the explosion of CSS "Drewry"'s magazine as "Drewry" ended her life, lashed alongside "Richmond". The ironclads withdrew under their Chaffin's Bluff batteries for a few weeks but "Richmond" had to be destroyed byRear Admiral Raphael Semmes , CSN, squadron commander, prior to evacuation of the capital onApril 3 .Commanders
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