CSS Neuse

Career
Name:	CSS Neuse
Namesake:	Neuse River
Builder:	Howard and Ellis, Kinston, North Carolina
Launched:	November 1863
Commissioned:	April 1864
Fate:	Burned to prevent capture, March 1865
General characteristics
Type:	Ironclad ram
Length:	152 ft (46 m)
Beam:	34 ft (10 m)
Draft:	9 ft (2.7 m)
Armament:	2 × 6.4 in (160 mm) Brooke rifles

CSS NEUSE (Ironclad Gunboat)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city:	Kinston, North Carolina
Coordinates:	35°16′1.33″N 77°37′17.8″W
Built:	1865
Architect:	Confederate Navy Dept.; Howard & Ellis
Architectural style:	Other
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	00000444
Added to NRHP:	11 June 2001

The CSS Neuse was an ironclad ram of the Confederate States Navy that served in the latter part the American Civil War and was later scuttled to avoid capture. Her raised lower hull contained the largest number of artifacts ever found on a recovered Confederate vessel: approximately 15,000. Her lower hull and some artifacts are on exhibit in Kinston, North Carolina at the CSS Neuse State Historic Site and Governor Caswell Memorial; the ironclad is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Construction

A contract for the construction of CSS Neuse was signed on 17 October 1862 between the shipbuilding company of Thomas Howard and Elijah Ellis and the Confederate Navy. Work began in October of that year on the bank across the Neuse River (her namesake) from the small village of Whitehall, North Carolina (present day Seven Springs). The gunboat's design was virtually identical to her sister ironclad CSS Albemarle: Neuse differed from Albemarle by having four additional gun ports added (for a total of ten) to her eight-sided armored casemate. The hull was 158 feet (48 m) long by 34 feet (10 m) wide, and she was constructed of both pine and oak, both woods being abundant in the region. Many delays in construction were incurred by a lack of available materials, mostly wrought iron for the armored casemate and deck plating; her deck armor was finally left off so the ironclad could be put in service. Due to these shortages, Neuse became the first of several Southern ironclads built with unarmored decks. This situation was compounded by the Confederate Army exercising priority over the Navy in the use of the South's inadequate railroad system for transporting vital war materials.

Armament and ordinance

Neuse was fitted with two 6.4-inch (160 mm) Brooke rifled cannon (similar to a Parrott rifle); each double-banded cannon weighed more than 12,000 pounds with its pivot carriage and other attached hardware. Both cannons were positioned along the ironclad's centerline in the armored casemate, one forward, the other aft. The field of fire for both pivot rifles was 180-degrees, from port to starboard; each cannon could fire from one of five gun port positions or could deliver a two cannon broadside. Neuse's ordinance consisted of explosive shells, anti-personnel canister shot, grape shot, and blunt-nosed, solid wrought iron "bolts" for use against Union armored ships; many examples of all four types were were recovered from her raised wreck.

Service and post-war history

Launched in November 1863, Neuse finally got up steam in April 1864 for duty on the inland waters of North Carolina, as part of the force under Commander. R. F. Pinkney, CSN. Shortly thereafter, however, the ironclad grounded off Kinston and remained fast for almost a month until being refloated; after that she never left the river. In March 1865, with Kinston under siege by Union forces, gun powder trails leading to explosives moved into her bow were lit, after her crew lit other fires aboard; she was destroyed by both explosion and fire. Neuse was burned to just below her waterline to prevent capture by the rapidly advancing Union Army, commanded by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. At some point following the war, her sunken hulk, lying in shallow river water, was salvaged for its metals: cannon and carriages, iron ram, casemate armor, and steam power plant. What was left, including her ordinance, was left undisturbed until Neuse was raised a century later.

Ironclad recovery

Nearly a century later, the remaining lower hull of the burned ironclad was finally discovered; she was raised in 1963, and approximately 15,000 shipboard artifacts were also recovered and carefully cataloged. Neuse's hull was eventually installed beside the river at the Governor Caswell Memorial in Kinston. Bids are being placed for a final resting site for the CSS Neuse and her artifacts in a climate-controlled site in downtown Kinston.

There are currently only four partially recovered Civil War era ironclads, CSS Neuse, CSS Jackson, USS Monitor, and USS Cairo; soon the Cairo will be the only one left outdoors in the sometimes brutal Southern climate. Several other ironclad wrecks are known but remain unrecovered. The successful Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley, which sank the Union blockading sloop-of-war USS Housatonic, was recovered and is undergoing extensive restoration and conservation.

Neuse II replica

A full-size replica of the CSS Neuse, called Neuse II, is on grounds display at a separate site in Kinston and contains a fitted-out interior that shows all shipboard details; it was constructed from 2002 through 2009 by volunteers. Neuse is the only Confederate ironclad that has a historic, full-size replica on display.

Replica of CSS Albemarle taken in 2003

Since April 2002 Neuse's sister ironclad, CSS Albemarle has had a 3/8ths scale replica, 63 feet long (19.2m), at anchor near the Port O' Plymouth Museum in Plymouth, NC; this ironclad replica is self-powered and capable of sailing on the river.

References

• Bright, Leslie S., Rowland, William H., and Bardon, James C. C.S.S. Neuse, A Question of Iron and Time. Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Raleigh, NC. 1981. ISBN 0-86526-187-3.
• Campbell, R. Thomas. Southern Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, White Maine Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1-57249-029-2.
• Campbell, R. Thomas. Southern Fire: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, White Maine Publishing, 1997. ISBN 1-57249-046-2.
• Campbell, R. Thomas. Fire and Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, White Maine Publishing, 1997. ISBN 1-57249-067-5.
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Ironclad warship

External links

• CSS Neuse State Historic Site
• CSS Neuse Foundation
• CSS Neuse Gunboat Association Inc.
• Naval Training Ship CSS Neuse
• Civil War Album
• Replica