CSS ''Huntsville'' was a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

ironclad An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...

floating battery built at

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

, from 1862 to 1863 during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

History

''Huntsville'' was ordered on May 1, 1862, by the

Confederate States Navy The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...

. 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 The Shelby Iron Company was an iron manufacturing company that operated an ironworks in Shelby, Alabama. The iron company produced iron for the Confederate States of America and was destroyed towards the end of the American Civil War. The company ...

Shelby, Alabama Shelby is a census-designated place and Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community in Shelby County, Alabama, Shelby County, Alabama, United States. Its population was 1,044 as of the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. The ...

, and the Atlanta Rolling Mill. She had defective engines that were obtained from a river steamer and an incomplete armament, so was assigned to guard the waters around Mobile. ''Huntsville'' escaped up the Spanish River following the

Battle of Mobile Bay The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was a naval and land engagement of the American Civil War in which a Union fleet commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fle ...

on August 5, 1864. The city of Mobile held out another eight months, with the upper portion of

Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. T ...

remaining in Confederate hands. She, along with the , 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 The Mobile River is located in southern Alabama in the United States. Formed out of the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers, the approximately river drains an area of of Alabama, with a watershed extending into Mississippi, Georg ...

on the north side of Blakeley Island, just north of Mobile, until being located in 1985.

Notes

References

* * * * * Ironclad floating batteries of the Confederate States Navy Alabama in the American Civil War Ships built in Selma, Alabama 1863 ships Maritime incidents in April 1865 Scuttled vessels Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Shipwrecks of the Alabama coast {{AmericanCivilWar-ship-stub