Work began on her in January, 1863. Her keels (she was flat-bottomed) were laid in a cornfield. A common country blacksmith shop was the only “machine shop.” Her engines were put together from the scrap heaps of the iron works at Richmond and Wilmington. The timbers were from good pine logs, and her armor was like that of the Merrimac, but the ship, as a whole, excited the amusement even of many of the Confederates until she was afloat.
At this time the gunboats Miami, Capt. C. W. Flusser, and the Southfield, Captain French, were stationed at the west end of Albemarle Sound, rather in the mouth of Roanoke River, near Plymouth. Flusser, as early as June 8, 1863, sent to Rear-admiral S. P. Lee, then commanding the station, a very accurate description of the new ironclad. An expedition was sent up the river to destroy her on the ways, but it could not pass—at least it did not pass—the Confederate forts. Then an appeal was made to Gen. John G. Foster, commanding the Federal troops, to send a cavalry regiment to burn the ship, but “General Foster expressed his unconcern about the rebel ram.” Sorrowful to relate, the vigilant Flusser, and not the self-satisfied Foster, suffered the penalty of this unconcern.
The Albemarle was “122 feet over all, had forty-five feet beam and drew eight feet of water. The casemate, built of massive pine timbers, covered with four-inch planking, was sixty feet long, and was covered with two layers of two-inch iron. The vessel was propelled by twin screws, operated by engines of 200 horse power each. She was armed with an Armstrong 100-pounder in the bow and one in the stern, while the casemate was so pierced that they could be used as broadside or quarter guns.”
She was not ready for action, however, until April, 1864. On the 17th of that month the Confederate General Hoke advanced on Plymouth. Captain Cooke, of the Albemarle, had promised to coöperate in order to deprive the Union soldiers of the help of the Union gun-boats. The Albemarle was not quite ready, but she left her moorings with the mechanics still at work screwing on her armor plates. While the foreman shouted orders to the mechanics, naval officers alongside were drilling the crew at great guns; and John N. Maffitt tells an amusing story of how the orders were mingled: “Drive in spike No. 10! Serve vent and sponge! On nut below and screw up! Load with cartridge!” And the fact that all this was done is especially interesting when we remember that the men equal to such an occasion were the kind to win, and they did win in their first onslaught.
The Union forces had driven piles to keep her up the river, but, aided by high water, the Albemarle passed them with no delay whatever, and just before midnight, on April 19th, the Union gunboats found her upon them. The Miami and the Southfield had been yoked together with long booms and chains in such fashion that the Albemarle was expected to strike in between them and there get caught at such short range that their nine-inch Dahlgren projectiles would easily penetrate her armor. But instead of going between them, the Albemarle crossed the Miami’s bow and rammed and sunk the Southfield. Flusser bravely worked his guns, but one shell that he himself fired against the Albemarle’s side broke into pieces, which, rebounding back, killed him where he stood. Then the Miami fled and Plymouth surrendered.
On May 5th the Albemarle had another fight with a squadron gathered to disable her. She was rammed by the Sassacus. The blow hurt the Sassacus more than the ironclad, and a few shot from the Albemarle’s guns sent the Union ship adrift and almost unmanageable. She would have been entirely so but for a heroic engineer who kept her engine going in spite of escaping steam in the engine-room. The Whitehead, the Mattabesett, and the Wyalusing also took part, firing as rapidly as possible. The action is described in one history as a “desperate battle.” The casualties on the Union side in this desperate affair amounted to four killed, twelve wounded by projectiles, and fourteen scalded by steam from a cut pipe. The hero of the battle was Engineer J. M. Hobby, who stood at his post on the Sassacus in spite of the scalding steam when every other man fled, and so saved the ship.
William B. Cushing.
From a photograph.
Thereafter the Albemarle was tied up at the Plymouth wharf to await the completion of another ship like her that was building on Tar River, and this needless delay was fatal, for Lieut. William B. Cushing asked for, and obtained, the task of destroying her, and he was of the kind that succeed.