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81-588: Atlanta was a casemate ironclad that served in the Confederate and Union Navies during the American Civil War . She was converted from a British-built blockade runner named Fingal by the Confederacy after she made one run to Savannah, Georgia . After several failed attempts to attack Union blockaders, the ship was captured by two Union monitors in 1863 when she ran aground. Atlanta

162-434: A U.S. Air Force B-47 Stratojet from Homestead Air Force Base , Florida, jettisoned a nuclear weapon (specifically, a Mark 15 hydrogen bomb ) off the coast of Tybee Island while conducting training exercises with a USAF F-86 Sabrejet . The aircraft collided, with the pilot of the fighter ejecting and the crew of the bomber making an emergency landing at nearby Hunter Air Force Base . The lost weapon, known popularly as

243-588: A keeled deep-draft hull, as opposed to the Union shallow-draft flat bottom hulls (also featured on the Confederate river ironclads of which there were also a number built). This came at a cost, however: Confederate coastal ironclads frequently ran aground when operating in inland waters or shallow coastal waters, with more than one being captured by the Union because of it, or were destroyed by their own crews to prevent capture in such circumstances—a fate that befell

324-529: A bowling alley and roller skating rink. Development continued to push toward the island's southern tip. By 1940, the island had four hotels, including the Desoto Hotel and Hotel Tybee, and numerous smaller lodges. The Tybrisa Pavilion burned down in 1967, and was replaced by the Tybee Pier and Pavilion in 1996. Cecil B. Day opened the first Days Inn on Tybee Island in 1970. On February 5, 1958,

405-414: A decline in tourism due to recent reported shark activity. Tybee Island is located at 32°0′24″N 80°50′58″W  /  32.00667°N 80.84944°W  / 32.00667; -80.84944 (32.006672, -80.849374). The island is the north easternmost of Georgia's Sea Islands , which comprise the outer section of the state's Lower Coastal Plain region. Like the other Sea Islands, Tybee consists of

486-617: A fleet of militia-manned ships. The invasion failed to take the capital of Florida, St. Augustine , but did destroy the Guale and Mocama missionary provinces. After another invasion of Spanish Florida by South Carolina in 1704, the Spanish retreated to St. Augustine and Pensacola ; the Sea Islands were depopulated, allowing the establishment of new English settlements such as the colony of Georgia . Tybee Island's strategic position near

567-605: A merchantman by J&G Thomson's Clyde Bank Iron Shipyard at Govan in Glasgow , Scotland, and was completed early in 1861. She was described by Midshipman Dabney Scales, who served on the Atlanta before her battle with the monitors, as being a two- masted , iron-hulled ship 189 feet (57.6 m) long with a beam of 25 feet (7.6 m). She had a draft of 12 feet (3.7 m) and a depth of hold of 15 feet (4.6 m). He estimated her tonnage at around 700 tons bm . Fingal

648-512: A publicity move in 1821, the city of Tybee Island reverted to its original name in 1978. The small island, which has long been a quiet beach getaway for Savannah residents, has become a popular vacation spot for tourists from outside the Savannah area. Tybee Island is home to the first of what eventually became the Days Inn chain of hotels, the oft-photographed Tybee Island Light Station , and

729-714: A reversion to its fourth day mark, first used in 1916. The Tybee Island Light Station is one of just a handful of 18th-century lighthouses still in operation in North America. During the Civil War , the Union Army placed siege batteries along the north coast of Tybee Island that aided in their successful bombardment and capture of Fort Pulaski on April 10–11, 1862. This was the first significant use of rifled cannons against masonry fortifications and demonstrated that masonry fortifications were obsolete. Recently,

810-526: A sandy beach on its eastern shore and a tidal salt marsh on its western shore. The interior consists of a maritime forest (the density of which has been reduced by development) and freshwater sloughs. The Savannah River empties into the Atlantic Ocean just north of Tybee Island, placing the island in a strategic location. To the west, the marsh-lined Lazaretto Creek splits the island off from McQueens Island (the 2-mile (3 km) stretch between

891-622: A specific point in Wassaw Sound , just off the Tybee coast. He concluded from these readings that the bomb might be present "at a point just off the southern tip of Little Tybee", an undeveloped barrier island near Tybee Island. In response, the Air Force launched a nine-month search for the Tybee bomb in 2004. The search team specifically investigated the area of Wassaw Sound where Duke had found high radiation levels. The Air Force reported to

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972-629: A valuable part of coastal defense until it was decommissioned in 1947. Fort Screven is most notable for one of its former commanding officers, General of the Army George C. Marshall , later the architect of the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Western Europe after World War II . Approximately 70 fort buildings still remain. The entire Fort Screven district was placed on the National Historic Register in 1982. One of

1053-572: A warship housing the main armament itself was further explored by European navies in the last third of the 19th century, by the French and British navies in particular, in no small part due to the inspiration gained from the Battle of Hampton Roads. This resulted in larger, high-freeboard ironclad frigates or battleships the British dubbed " centre battery ships " and the French "casemate" or "barbette" (if

1134-477: Is Georgia's easternmost point. The phrase "From Rabun Gap to Tybee Light ", intended to illustrate Georgia's geographic diversity, contrasts a mountain pass near the state's northernmost point with the coastal island's lighthouse. As of the 2020 census , the city's population was about 3000 people. The entire island is a part of the Savannah metropolitan statistical area . Officially renamed Savannah Beach in

1215-402: Is rarely below 33 °F or above 93 °F. The below table shows the monthly average temperatures: low high low high precipitation snow As of the 2020 United States census , there were 3,114 people, 1,305 households, and 831 families residing in the city. Tybee's violent crime rate is lower than Georgia's but its property crime rate is higher. The table below shows

1296-696: The Customs Service , possibly for violations of neutrality laws as she had just loaded four large guns and a number of recruits for the forces of Sylvain Salnave , President of Haiti , who was embroiled in a civil war . Atlanta was released and sailed for Port-au-Prince three days later. She broke down in Delaware Bay and had to put in at Chester, Pennsylvania for repairs. The ship, now renamed either Triumph or Triumfo , departed on 18 December 1869 and vanished en route, apparently sinking with

1377-555: The Fort Screven Historic District. The U.S. Air Force accidentally dropped an atomic bomb into the sea off Tybee Island due to an accidental collision between two aircraft . Though the "Tybee Bomb" did not detonate (the weapon was inert/simulated nuclear capsule according to some reports, others claim the nuclear capsule was equipped), there has been ongoing concern because the Mark 15 nuclear bomb lost during

1458-664: The James River where she could support operations against Richmond and defend against a sortie by the ironclads of the James River Squadron . On 21 May 1864, she and the gunboat Dawn fired on and dispersed Confederate cavalry that was attacking Fort Powhatan and she was deployed further upriver in February 1865 after the Battle of Trent's Reach to better blockade the Confederate ironclads at Richmond. After

1539-549: The Merrimack' s into Virginia , and suffered from the same defects. Still, all admiralties concluded that it was an evolutionary dead-end and that the revolving gun turret was the way to go – the validity of the conclusion being amply hammered home when the revolutionary HMS  Dreadnought  (1906) entered service, rendering everything that went before obsolete overnight. As a result, by 1910 no navy had any casemate warship left in service. Tybee Island The island

1620-614: The Peruvian Navy wooden gunboat BAP Loa , which was converted into a Confederate-style casemate ironclad in 1864 and used in a very similar role during the Chincha Islands War . The other example concerned the Royal Dutch Navy ship-of-the-line Zr Ms De Ruyter , whose conversion into an "armoured steam battery" – completed in 1865 – was ordered immediately after the Battle of Hampton Roads, much like

1701-595: The Union successfully used a substantial fleet of casemate ironclad riverboats in their Mississippi and Red River Campaigns , the casemate ironclad is mostly associated with the Confederacy . This is partly due to the Battle of Hampton Roads , in which the Union turreted ironclad USS  Monitor and the Confederate casemate ironclad CSS  Virginia (sometimes called the Merrimack ) dueled, giving rise to

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1782-538: The United States Census Bureau , the city has an area of 5.2 miles (8.3 km), of which 3.7 miles (6.0 km) is land and 1.4 miles (2.3 km), or 27.2%, is water. The entire island (as distinguished from the city of the same name) has a land area of 21.871 square miles (56.65 km ). Tybee Island has hot weather in summer, while in winter the weather is cool with winds. The temperature typically varies from 45 °F to 88 °F and

1863-474: The "Tybee Bomb", remained a security concern for several years, although the Air Force claims the bomb lacks a nuclear capsule and poses no serious threat. In 2004, retired United States Air force Lieutenant Colonel Derek Duke took part in a private search for the bomb. According the Savannah Morning News , Duke found that there were "high levels of radiation and unusual magnetometer readings" at

1944-465: The 18.5-caliber, 6.4-inch gun were 9,110 pounds (4,130 kg) with 80-pound bolts and 64-pound (29 kg) shells. Atlanta was also armed with a 20-foot (6.1 m), solid iron, ram that was reinforced by a series of vertical steel bars. In front of the ram was a spar torpedo that carried 50 pounds (23 kg) of black powder on a wooden pole connected to an iron lever that could be raised or lowered by means of pulleys . On 31 July 1862, under

2025-585: The Bahamas. The cargo was loaded in Greenock in early October, although Bulloch and the other passengers would not attempt to board until they rendezvoused with the ship at Holyhead , Wales . On the night 14/15 October, as she was slowly rounding the breakwater at Holyhead, Fingal rammed and sank the Austrian brig Siccardi , slowly swinging at anchor without lights. Bulloch and the passengers embarked in

2106-558: The British in 1865) and HMS  Hercules (1868). French examples included Brasil (casemate, and as the name implies, completed for the Brazilian Navy in 1865, and, when stripped of its masts , sharing a striking side-profile similarity with its Confederate progenitors) and Redoutable (barbette, and the first warship in history to be constructed in steel in 1878, instead of iron). Two earlier and rarer examples – having more in common with American ironclads – concerned

2187-625: The CSS Virginia as her draft ultimately prevented her escape some time after the Battle of Hampton Roads. Furthermore, even the relatively modest aim of limited seaworthiness was rarely achieved, since the Confederacy had to make do with repurposed and underpowered machinery that was originally designed to power wooden vessels, and which was unsuited for powering the now-heavier casemate ironclads, seriously hampering their maneuverability and leading to many grounded Confederate ironclads being unable to free themselves without help. Acutely aware of

2268-541: The City of Tybee Island has taken action to commemorate Tybee's historic significance in the Civil War. In 2005, the city obtained a federal grant to acquire two tracts of land where Union soldiers launched their attack against Fort Pulaski. Fort Screven was first commissioned in 1898 and named for Brigadier General James Screven, a Revolutionary War hero killed in action near Midway, Georgia , in 1778. The fort served as

2349-649: The Civil War. In 1887, the Central of Georgia Railway completed a line to Tybee Island , opening it to a wave of summer tourists. The railroad built the Tybrisa Pavilion in 1891, and by the end of the decade, several hundred summer cottages dotted the island. In the 1920s, U.S. Route 80 was completed, connecting Tybee Island via road with the mainland. The Tybrisa Pavilion became a popular stop for big band tours and performers included Bing Crosby , Tommy Dorsey , and Blue Steele . The pavilion also housed

2430-518: The Navy Department's account to be used to purchase more ships and equipment in Europe. He returned to Savannah on 23 November and it took him almost a month to purchase a cargo and acquire enough coal. He made one attempt to break through the blockade on 23 December, but it proved impossible to do as the Union controlled every channel from Savannah, aided by their occupation of Tybee Island at

2511-581: The Union Navy in the first place) to the Confederate House Committee on Naval Affairs, the majority of them were from the outset designed to operate in coastal waters as well as inland waters, and unlike their Union counterparts were, theoretically at least, seaworthy to a limited extent—since they were never expected to venture out onto the high seas. This was exemplified by the fact that most Confederate ironclads were designed with

USS Atlanta (1861) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2592-450: The casemate was some 20 inches (508 mm) from the waterline and its top was 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) above the waterline. The pyramidal pilothouse was armored in the same way and had room for two men. The upper portion of Atlanta ' s hull received 2 inches (51 mm) of armor. The rectangular casemate was pierced with eight narrow gun ports , one each at the bow and stern and three along each side. Each gun port

2673-406: The casemate, the guns were housed in one continuous deck. Unlike with turret ironclads , the guns had to fire through fixed gunports and therefore aiming was done by moving the gun relative to the gunport. This was labor-intensive and often up to 20 men were needed to load, aim, fire, and clean a gun, and even with this manpower the firing rate was no better than one shot per five minutes. Although

2754-495: The citadel was circularly shaped) ships, which were oceangoing, unlike the American originals (excepting the Confederacy's CSS  Stonewall , the only Confederate high-freeboard and oceangoing barbette /casemate ironclad, and the Union's rather unusual low-freeboard, but equally oceangoing, casemate ironclad USS  Dunderberg ). British examples were, among others, HMS  Bellerophon (the first such one completed by

2835-519: The command of Lieutenant Charles H. McBlair , Atlanta conducted her sea trials down the Savannah River toward Fort Pulaski . The ship proved to be difficult to steer, and the additional weight of her armor and guns significantly reduced her speed and increased her draft. This latter was a real problem in the shallow waters near Savannah. She also leaked significantly, and her design virtually eliminated air circulation. One report said that "it

2916-413: The crew of the bow gun, even though it failed to cleanly penetrate through the backing. The next shot from the 11-inch Dahlgren gun struck the upper hull and started a small leak even though it failed to penetrate the two-inch armor there. The next shell from the 15-inch Dahlgren glanced off the middle starboard gun shutter as it was being opened, wounding half the gun's crew with fragments. The final shell

2997-453: The damage already inflicted by the former ship made further resistance futile. Webb surrendered his ship within 15 minutes of opening fire, before Nahant even had a chance to fire. Of the ironclad's 21 officers and 124 enlisted men, one man was killed and another sixteen were wounded badly enough to require hospitalization. Atlanta was easily pulled free by the Union ships and she reached Port Royal under her own power. Not badly damaged, she

3078-422: The end of January. Nonetheless Tattnall attempted to pass through the obstructions during high tide on 3 February, but high winds prevented the water from rising enough to allow the ship to do so. After Atlanta successfully passed through them on 19 March, Tattnall planned to attack the Union base at Port Royal, South Carolina while the monitors were attacking Charleston. Deserters revealed Tatnall's plan while he

3159-512: The end of the war in April, Atlanta was decommissioned in Philadelphia on 21 June 1865 and placed in reserve at League Island . She was sold to Sam Ward on 4 May 1869 for the price of $ 25,000 and subsequently delivered to representatives of Haiti on 8 December by Sydney Oaksmith, a lawyer who had received an advance of $ 50,000 on her purchase price of $ 260,000. The ship was briefly seized by

3240-427: The exploits of such vessels as CSS Virginia herself, CSS  Arkansas , CSS  Albemarle and CSS  Tennessee  (1863) . In their specific outer appearances, i.e. being essentially floating gun batteries encased in armored citadels, albeit powered, the low-freeboard Union and Confederate casemate ironclads were almost uniquely North American. However, the concept of a fixed armored citadel mounted on

3321-475: The fact, the Confederacy's chief naval engineer John L. Porter (co-designer of Virginia , which was likewise powered by her original, wooden frigate engine) had originally envisioned his subsequent casemate ironclad designs to be equipped with superior British-made engines, theoretically giving them a cruising speed of at least ten knots. However, the Union blockade meant that very few such engines reached Confederate naval shipyards, forcing them to do with whatever

USS Atlanta (1861) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3402-414: The first spring tide (30 May) after taking command, but Atlanta ' s forward engine broke down after he had passed the obstructions, and the ship ran aground. She was not damaged although it took over a day to pull her free. He planned to make another attempt on the next full tide, rejecting Mallory's idea that he wait until the nearly complete ironclad Savannah was finished before his next sortie. In

3483-490: The first. Part of the third lighthouse at the site, built in 1773, still stands as the bottom 60 feet (18 m) of the present lighthouse. The top 94 feet (29 m) of the current lighthouse were added in 1867. Today, the Tybee Lighthouse is a popular tourist destination, having all of its support buildings on the 5-acre (20,000 m ) site historically preserved. The current black-and-white tower markings are

3564-412: The harbor was on 31 January 1863 in a successful action against the Union Navy, albeit only engaging wooden enemy ships and making use of slack water in the harbor. Having to add heavier armor in the later stages of the war only served to aggravate matters. All this resulted in the Confederate casemate ironclad never quite living up to its full potential, with glimpses of what might have been gleaned from

3645-509: The hull above the waterline. The casemate was often box-shaped, with armor and weight saving octagon shapes appearing in the later stages of the war. From the top of the casemate protruded an armored lookout structure that served as a pilothouse , and one or two smokestacks. The casemate ironclad being steam driven, either by screws or by paddle-wheels, it did not need sails or masts, although sometimes, when not in combat, temporary pulley-masts, flagpoles, davits , and awnings were added. Inside

3726-410: The later 6 inches (15.2 cm) Confederate armor, sloped at 35 degrees, resulted in a 22 percent increase of effective horizontal armor thickness at 7.33 inches (18.6 cm). However, increasing the slope came at a cost as it meant adding more armor and heavier structural support – and thus more weight – to the casemate, while maintaining the original armor thickness. Armor was also applied to the part of

3807-664: The loss of all hands, either off Cape Hatteras or the Delaware Capes . 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 armored gun deck/turret, it exhibited a single (often sloped) casemate structure, or armored citadel , on

3888-543: The main deck housing the entire gun battery . As the guns were carried on the top of the ship yet still fired through fixed gunports, the casemate ironclad is seen as an intermediate stage between the traditional broadside frigate and modern warships. In its general appearance, a casemate ironclad consisted of a low-cut hull with little freeboard , upon which an armored casemate structure was built. This casemate housed anywhere from two to fifteen cannons, most of them in broadside positions as in classical warships. The casemate

3969-486: The main western shore of Tybee Island and Lazaretto Creek is mostly marshland). Tybee Creek flows along the south shore of Tybee Island and joins the Atlantic at the island's southeastern tip. Little Tybee Island, which consists mostly of protected wetlands, lies across Tybee Creek to the southwest. The size of the sandy beach at the southern tip of Tybee Island varies considerably in response to tidal changes. According to

4050-616: The meantime, Rear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont , commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron , had ordered the monitors Weehawken and Nahant into Wassaw Sound. Commander John Rodgers in Weehawken had overall command of the two ships. In the early evening of 15 June, Webb began his next attempt by passing over the lower obstructions in the Wilmington River and spent the rest of

4131-433: The media in 2005 that the source of the high radiation was likely monazite , a mineral naturally high in radiation. The Savannah Morning News headline ran "Duke Found Dirt". On June 15, 2016, the Tybee city council voted 4–1 to withhold shark attack numbers where the attacks did not result in loss of life. According to the Savannah Morning News , the vote was a direct result of pressure from local businesses that had seen

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4212-555: The mishap was never recovered. Native Americans , using dugout canoes to navigate the waterways, hunted and camped in Georgia's coastal islands for thousands of years. The Euchee tribe likely inhabited the island in the years preceding the arrival of the first Spanish explorers in the area in the 16th century. Tybee is the Euchee word for "salt". In 1520, the Spanish laid claim to what is now Tybee Island and named it Los Bajos . It

4293-418: The monitors closed the range. When Weehawken , the leading ship, closed to within 200–300 yards (180–270 m) she opened fire with both of her guns. The 11-inch (279 mm) shell missed, but the 15-inch (381 mm) shell struck the ironclad above the port middle gun port, penetrated her armor and broke the wooden backing behind it, spraying splinters and fragments that disabled the entire gun crew and half

4374-404: The morning of 17 June. When the latter ship closed to within about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the two Union ships, she fired one round from her bow gun that passed over Weehawken and landed near Nahant . Shortly afterward, Atlanta ran aground on a sandbar; she was briefly able to free herself, but the pressure of the tide pushed her back onto the sandbar. This time Webb was unable to get off and

4455-475: The most important remaining structures is the Tybee Post Theater , constructed in 1930. It was one of Georgia's first theaters to have sound features and was the highlight of the fort's recreational activities. Other remaining buildings include the recently restored guard house, the bakery (now a private home), and barracks (now apartments). The ruins of the beach fortifications are also extant, and of

4536-553: The mouth of the Savannah River has made the island's northern tip the ideal location for a lighthouse since Georgia's early settlement period. First built in 1736, the lighthouse was made of brick and wood , and stood 90 feet (27 m) tall, making it the highest structure in America at that time. The original lighthouse has been replaced several times. The second lighthouse was built in 1742 when beach erosion threatened

4617-401: The mouth of the Savannah River . Bulloch reported to Mallory in late January 1862 that breaking out was hopeless so Mallory ordered him to turn the ship over to another officer and to return to Europe some other way. The brothers Asa and Nelson Tift received the contract to convert the blockade runner into an ironclad in early 1862 with the name of Atlanta , after the city in Georgia. This

4698-410: The naval defenses of Georgia . Under pressure from Mallory to engage the blockading ships, Tattnall attempted to engage them before any ironclads arrived on 5 January 1863, but army engineers could not clear the obstacles blocking the channel in a timely manner, despite early coordination being made by Tattnall to do so. It took another month to actually clear the obstacles and two monitors arrived before

4779-458: The night coaling. He moved forward the next evening to a concealed position within easy reach of the monitors for an attack early the following morning. Webb planned to sink one of the monitors with his spar torpedo and then deal with the other one with his guns. The gunboat Isondiga and the tugboat Resolute were to accompany him to tow one or both of the monitors back to Savannah. A lookout aboard Weehawken spotted Atlanta at 04:10 on

4860-501: The plan to Nassau. However, all of the crew agreed to join in the effort to run the Union blockade. Fingal was able to slip safely into the Savannah estuary in a heavy fog on the night of 12 November without sighting any blockaders. While Fingal was discharging her cargo, Bulloch and Anderson went to Richmond to confer with Stephen Mallory , Secretary of the Navy . Mallory endorsed Bulloch's plan to load Fingal with cotton to sell on

4941-470: The popular notion that "The North had Monitors (predominantly deployed for coastal operations, whereas the unseaworthy Union casemate ironclads were restricted to inland river operations—hence their " brown-water navy " nickname) while the South had (casemate) ironclads". In effect, the Confederacy concentrated its efforts on casemate ironclads as a means to harass the Union blockade of their ports, but this

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5022-487: The rate of crime per 100,000 people. Every year since 1987, Tybee Island has had a Beach Bum parade, traditionally held in May the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. The parade route comes down Tybee's main road, Butler Avenue, and when parade floats come by onlookers have been known to shoot each other with water guns. Tybee Pirate Fest, which began in 2005, is typically held the weekend before Columbus Day . Tybee Island

5103-772: The six original batteries, Battery Garland (built in 1899) is accessible to the public. Battery Garland houses the Tybee Museum. Another remaining area is Officer's Row, a group of original homes with a sweeping ocean view, one of which is now a bed and breakfast . During the late 19th century, at the height of the Industrial Revolution , residents in large, polluted cities frequently sought out remote beaches for summertime getaways. Clear, saltwater breezes were thought to be remedies for numerous ailments, including asthma and certain allergies . Steamships began carrying patients and tourists to Tybee Island just after

5184-437: The steamer while Bulloch dispatched a letter to his financial agents instructing them to settle damages with the brig's owners because he could not afford to take the time to deal with the affair lest he and Fingal be detained. The ship reached Bermuda on 2 November and, after leaving port on 7 November, Bulloch informed the crew that the steamer's real destination was Savannah, Georgia ; he offered to take anyone who objected to

5265-415: The war when armor-penetrating ordnance was developed, especially by the Union Navy which at war's end had developed shells capable of penetrating up to 9.5 inches (24 cm) of perpendicularly placed armor – hence the increase of armor thickness on Confederate ironclads; sloping increased effective armor thickness against armor-piercing ordnance, which was typically fired on a flat trajectory. For example,

5346-633: Was 17 calibers long. The 100-pounder weighed 9,800 pounds (4,400 kg) and was 20 calibers long. It fired a 100-pound (45 kg) shell a distance of 6,900 yards (6,300 m) at an elevation of +25°. All four of her Brooke rifles are currently located in Willard Park in the Washington Navy Yard . Atlanta was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and spent most of her time stationed up

5427-483: Was a choice dictated by available technology and materials rather than by confidence in the possibilities of this type. Since breaking the Union blockade was the primary objective of the Confederacy's casemate ironclads, as outlined in a May 1861 letter from its Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory (who was the one who came up with the idea of employing ironclads to offset the numerical superiority of

5508-430: Was almost intolerable on board the Atlanta , there being no method of ventilation, and the heat was intense." Scales commented in his diary, "What a comfortless, infernal and God-forsaken ship!!" Attempts were made to fix the problems and were at least partially successful in stopping many of the leaks. The ship was commissioned on 22 November and became the flagship of Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall III , commander of

5589-460: Was also from the 15-inch Dahlgren and it struck the top of the pilothouse, breaking the armor there and wounding both pilots in it. By this time, Atlanta had been able to fire only seven shots, none of which hit either Union ship, and was hard aground with high tide not due for another hour and a half. Weehawken and Nahant were able to freely maneuver into positions from which the Atlanta ' s narrow gun ports would not allow her to reply and

5670-634: Was at the northern end of the Guale missionary province of Spanish Florida . During that time the island was frequented by pirates who used the island to hide from those who pursued them. Pirates later used the island's inland waterways for a fresh water source. After the founding of South Carolina in 1670, warfare increased between the English and their pirate allies and the Spanish and their Native American allies. In 1702, James Moore of South Carolina led an invasion of Spanish Florida with an Indian army and

5751-487: Was equipped with two vertical single-cylinder direct-acting steam engines using steam generated by one flue-tubular boiler . The engines drove the ship at a top speed of around 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). They had a bore of 39 inches (991 mm) and a stroke of 30 inches (762 mm). The ship briefly operated between Glasgow and other ports in Scotland for Hutcheson 's West Highland Service before she

5832-489: Was estimated at 7–10 knots (13–19 km/h; 8.1–11.5 mph). The armor of the casemate was angled at 30° from the horizontal and made from two layers of railroad rails , rolled into plates 2 inches (51 mm) thick and 7 inches (180 mm) wide. The outer layer ran vertically and the inner layer horizontally. Her armor was backed by 3 inches (76 mm) of oak, vertically oriented, and two layers of 7.5 inches (191 mm) of pine, alternating in direction. The bottom of

5913-466: Was floated off, repaired, and rearmed, serving in the Union Navy for the rest of the war. She spent most of her time deployed on the James River supporting Union forces there. The ship was decommissioned in 1865 and placed in reserve . Several years after the end of the war, Atlanta was sold to Haiti , but was lost at sea in December 1869 on her delivery voyage. Fingal was designed and built as

5994-405: Was formerly home to "Orange Crush," an annual beach party attracting thousands of students from historically Black colleges and universities. The 2019 event was canceled after an organizer was arrested, and future events were moved to Jacksonville Beach, Florida , with organizers citing "lack of resources, limited parking, civil rights violations, and political injustices." Tybee Island is part of

6075-417: Was heavily armored (later Confederate ironclads had three layers of 2 inches (5.1 cm) steel) over heavy wood backing and was sloped to deflect direct hits (a 35-degree angle quickly becoming standard). Though deflection of the traditional round shot was the primary sloping rationale for ironclad designers, there actually was an added advantage involved, becoming more pertinent in the later stages of

6156-502: Was largely financed by contributions from the women of Savannah. Fingal was cut down to her main deck and large wooden sponsons were built out from the sides of her hull to support her casemate . After the conversion, Atlanta was 204 feet (62.2 m) long overall and had a beam of 41 feet (12 m). Her depth of hold was now 17 feet (5.2 m) and she now had a draft of 15 feet 9 inches (4.8 m). Atlanta now displaced 1,006 long tons (1,022 t) and her speed

6237-596: Was on hand (typically, engines stripped from trapped wooden blockade runners ), and thus most of their ironclads were not able to surpass a speed of four to six knots at most. As an example, the engines of the first two ironclads of the Charleston Squadron , the CSS ; Chicora and CSS  Palmetto State , were so weak that they were unable to overcome Charleston Harbor 's five-knot tides under their own power. The only time both ironclads sortied out of

6318-573: Was protected by an armored shutter made of two layers of iron riveted together and allowed the guns to elevate only to a maximum of +5 to +7°. Atlanta was armed with single-banded, 7-inch (178 mm) Brooke rifles on pivot mounts at the bow and stern. The middle gun port on each side was occupied by a single-banded, 6.4-inch (163 mm) Brooke rifle. The 17- caliber , seven-inch guns weighed about 15,000 pounds (6,800 kg) and fired 80-pound (36 kg) armor-piercing "bolts" and 110-pound (50 kg) explosive shells. The equivalent statistics for

6399-624: Was purchased in September 1861 by James D. Bulloch , the primary foreign agent in Great Britain for the Confederacy, and Major Edward Clifford Anderson Confederate Secretary of War in England, to deliver the military and naval ordnance and supplies that they purchased. To disguise his control of Fingal , and the destination of her cargo, Bulloch hired an English crew and captain and put out his destination as Bermuda and Nassau in

6480-485: Was repaired and bought by the Union Navy. The prize money of $ 350,000 was shared between the crews of Weehawken , Nahant and the gunboat Cimarron , the only ships within signaling distance. The ship retained her name and was commissioned again on 2 February 1864, rearmed with a pair of 8-inch (203 mm), 150-pound Parrott rifles in the bow and stern and 6.4-inch, 100-pound Parrott rifles amidships. The 150-pound Parrott rifle weighed 16,500 pounds (7,500 kg) and

6561-511: Was waiting at the head of Wassaw Sound and he was forced to retreat when three monitors augmented the defenses at Port Royal. Dissatisfied with Tattnall's perceived lack of aggressiveness, Mallory replaced Tattnall as commander of the Savannah squadron later that month with Commander Richard L. Page . Page, in his turn was relieved in May by Commander William A. Webb ; Atlanta remained the squadron flagship throughout this time. Webb demonstrated his aggressiveness when he attempted to sortie on

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