CSS ''North Carolina'' was a

casemate ironclad The casemate ironclad was a type of iron or iron-armored gunboat briefly used in the American Civil War by both the Confederate States Navy and the Union Navy. Unlike a monitor-type ironclad which carried its armament encased in a separate ...

built for the

Confederate 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 ...

in 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 ...

by Berry & Brothers at

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, eighth-most populous city in the st ...

at a cost of $76,000. She was placed in commission during the latter part of the year with

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

W. T. Muse, CSN, in command. The ironclad's bulkheads above the waterline were sloped inward at a 30-degree angle and were armored with four inches of railroad iron, similar to the armor used on . There were two shuttered gun ports on each of her four casemate sides, and she carried six 8-inch cannons that could be rolled on their carriages from one port to another; she mounted one heavy pivot-rifle in the bow cannon position. ''North Carolina'' was discovered to be structurally unsound and unsuitable for use on the open ocean; her hull had become riddled with

shipworm The shipworms, also called teredo worms or simply teredo (, via Latin ), are marine bivalve molluscs in the family Teredinidae, a group of saltwater clams with long, soft, naked bodies. They are notorious for boring into (and commonly eventual ...

as a result of the green hull timber used for her construction. She remained in the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a blackwater river in east-central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River in the town of ...

, where she had developed bad leaks, until she finally foundered on 27 September 1864, just off Smithville (modern

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

); she was serving there as a guard ship. Her sister ship was also a hard-luck ironclad. After serving in the Confederate Navy for just one week, ''Raleigh'' ran heavily aground on a sandbar called "the Rip." Her tonnage bore down heavily on the ship's unsupported aft keel, the pressure finally "breaking her back," as the tide receded; the ironclad was declared a total loss and her cannon, iron armor, and steam power plant were salvaged.

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:North Carolina Ironclad warships of the Confederate States Navy Shipwrecks in rivers Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Ships built in Wilmington, North Carolina 1863 ships Maritime incidents in September 1864