CSS Huntsville

CSS Huntsville was a Confederate ironclad floating battery built at Selma, Alabama, from 1862 to 1863 during the American Civil War.^[2]

Sketch of CSS Huntsville, Mobile, Alabama, 1864[1]
History
Confederate States
Name	Huntsville
Namesake	Huntsville, Alabama
Ordered	May 1, 1862
Builder	Confederate Naval Works at Selma
Launched	February 7, 1863
Completed	August 1, 1863
Out of service	April 12, 1865
Fate	Scuttled in Spanish River to prevent capture
General characteristics
Length	150 or 152 ft (45.7 or 46.3 m)
Beam	32 ft (9.8 m)
Draught	7 ft (2.1 m)
Propulsion	Steam
Speed	4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph)
Complement	40
Armament	1: 6.4-inch (163 mm) Muzzle-loading rifle 3–4: 32-pounder smoothbores

History

Huntsville was ordered on May 1, 1862, by the Confederate States Navy. She was launched at the Confederate Naval Works at Selma on February 7, 1863, and finished in Mobile. She was finally delivered on August 1, 1863. She was only partially armored, with the armor plate delivered by the Shelby Iron Company of Shelby, Alabama, and the Atlanta Rolling Mill.^[3] She had defective engines that were obtained from a river steamer and an incomplete armament, so was assigned to guard the waters around Mobile.^[3]

Huntsville escaped up the Spanish River following the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864. The city of Mobile held out another eight months, with the upper portion of Mobile Bay remaining in Confederate hands. She, along with the CSS Tuscaloosa, was scuttled to prevent capture on April 12, 1865, following the surrender of the city. The wreck lies where the Spanish River splits off from the Mobile River on the north side of Blakeley Island, just north of Mobile, until being located in 1985.^[4]