View source for CSS Wilmington

{{Short description|Confederate States Navy's unnamed casemate ironclad}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=CSSWilmingtonModel.jpg
|Ship caption=A speculative computer model of CSS ''Wilmington'' had she been completed
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=[[Confederate States of America]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|1863}}
|Ship name=''Wilmington''
|Ship namesake=[[Wilmington, North Carolina]]
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=Berry Brothers [[shipyard]], [[Wilmington, North Carolina]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down=1864
|Ship launched=
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship fate=Burned, {{c.}} 22 February 1865
|Ship notes=
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}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship type=[[Casemate ironclad]]
|Ship tonnage=
|Ship displacement=
|Ship tons burthen=
|Ship length={{convert|233|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on|1}} ([[o/a]])
|Ship beam={{convert|41|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} 
|Ship draft={{convert|9|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on|1}} 
|Ship depth={{cvt|12|ft|m|1}}
|Ship power=4 × [[boiler]]s
|Ship propulsion=2 × propellers; 2 × geared [[Marine steam engine#Direct acting|direct-acting steam engines]]
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|Ship armament=*2 × guns
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|}
'''CSS ''Wilmington''''' was an unnamed [[casemate ironclad]] built for the [[Confederate States Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. The ship was never officially named and is referred to by historians by the name of the city in which she was built. ''Wilmington'' was still under construction during the February 1865 [[Battle of Wilmington]] and was destroyed to prevent her capture by [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] troops after their victory.

==Background and description==
[[File:PlanCSSWilmington.tif|thumb|left|Original plan of CSS ''Wilmington'', {{c.}} June 1864]]
''Wilmington'' was designed by the Chief Naval Constructor, [[John L. Porter]], as a replacement for the rotten ironclad [[CSS North Carolina|CSS ''North Carolina'']] and the wrecked ironclad [[CSS Raleigh (1864)|CSS ''Raleigh'']] for the defenses of the [[Cape Fear River]] in [[North Carolina]] in 1864. Unlike those ships, ''Wilmington'' may have been designed to force engagements on the Union [[blockade]]rs as her sleek lines and powerful propulsion machinery suggest something more than a defensive role.<ref>Bisbee, pp. 179–180</ref>

The ship had an [[length overall|overall length]] of {{convert|223|ft|4|in|m|1}}, a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|41|ft|m|1}} and a [[draft (ship)|draft]] of {{convert|9|ft|6|in|m|1}}. Her [[depth of hold]] was {{convert|12|ft|m|1}}, but no tonnage or displacement figures are available as ''Wilmington'' was destroyed before she could be [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]]. The ship was fitted with two small [[pilot houses]], one each fore and aft of the [[casemate]]s, that were shaped like truncated [[pyramid]]s.<ref name=b9>Bisbee, p. 179</ref>

She was powered by a pair of high-pressure horizontal single-cylinder [[Marine steam engine#Direct acting|direct-acting steam engines]] that had a {{convert|28|in|adj=on}} [[bore (engine)|bore]] and a {{convert|24|in|adj=on}} [[stroke (engine)|stroke]]. Each engine drove an {{convert|8|ft|m|1|adj=on}} propeller via {{convert|4|ft|6|in|m|1|adj=on}} and {{convert|3|ft|m|1|adj=on}} [[gear]]s, using steam provided by four tubular [[boiler]]s. The propellers were connected by an idler shaft which prevented them from rotating at different speeds, which would have significantly inhibited the ship's maneuverability. All of the propulsion machinery was built by the [[Columbus Naval Iron Works]] in [[Columbus, Georgia]], but had not been delivered before ''Wilmington'' was destroyed.<ref>Bisbee, pp. 13–14, 16, 18–19, 179–180</ref>

The ship's [[main battery]] consisted of two guns of an unknown type on [[pivot mount]]s,<ref name=s3>Silverstone, p. 154</ref> each of which was housed in a small octagonal casemate. 
Each casemate had seven [[Glossary of nautical terms (A-L)#G|gun ports]].<ref>Canney, p. 72</ref> The thickness of ''Wilmington''{{'}}s [[wrought-iron]] armor is unknown.<ref name=s3/>

==Construction and fate==
Porter visited [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]] at the direction of [[Stephen Mallory]], the [[Confederate States Secretary of the Navy]], in late May 1864<ref name=nc/> after the first two ironclads built at Wilmington were lost or became ineffective; ''Raleigh'' was run aground and was wrecked on the [[sandbar]] at the mouth of the Cape Fear River on 7 May and ''North Carolina'' due to the [[green wood]] of her hull rotting and attacks by [[shipworm]]s.<ref>Canney, pp. 44–45</ref> Porter produced his design for ''Wilmington'' shortly afterwards and the ship was [[laid down]] at the Berry Brothers shipyard on Eagles Island across the river from the city.<ref name=b9/> Although she reportedly used armor [[Marine salvage|salvaged]] from the two earlier ironclads, ''Wilmington'' was still on the [[stocks (shipyard)|stocks]] when the Union captured the city on 22 February 1865. She was burned by the retreating Confederate troops to prevent her capture.<ref name=nc>{{cite web |last1=Coombs |first1=Edwin L. |title=Wilmington, CSS |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/wilmington-css |website=NCpedia |publisher=State Library of North Carolina |access-date=23 August 2020 |year=2006}}</ref>

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{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=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}}

==Further reading==
* {{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-date=1971 |location=Columbia, South Carolina |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |isbn=0-87249-454-3}}

{{CSN ironclads}}
{{1865 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmington}}
[[Category:North Carolina in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Ships built in Wilmington, North Carolina]]