CSS Ivy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| History | |
|---|---|
 Confederate States | |
| Name | Ivy |
| Namesake | V.H. Ivy |
| Owner | Confederate States Navy |
| Builder | Burtis |
| Launched | 1845 |
| Commissioned | May 16, 1861 |
| Fate | Destroyed to prevent capture at Liverpool Landing, Yazoo River, May 1863 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 447 tons |
| Length | 191 ft (58 m) |
| Beam | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
| Propulsion | Side paddle wheels, one vertical condensing beam engine; cylinders, 44” diameter, 11’ stroke[1] |
| Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 60 officers and men |
| Armament | 1 8”-smoothbore, 1 32-pounder rifle[2] |
CSS Ivy was a sidewheel steamer and privateer purchased by Commodore Lawrence Rousseau for service with the Confederate States Navy, and chosen by Commodore George Hollins for his Mosquito Fleet. The Mosquito Fleet was a group of riverboats converted to gunboats, and used to defend the Mississippi River in the area of New Orleans during the American Civil War.
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Equipped with a powerful rifled 32-pounder, Ivy fought with the Mosquito Fleet at the Confederate victory of the Battle of the Head of Passes and their defeat at the Battle of Island Number 10. Subsequently, trapped in the Yazoo River, Ivy was destroyed to prevent her capture by the Union in May 1863.
Ivy was 191 feet (58.2 m) long overall, had a beam of 28 feet (8.5 m) and a draft of 9 feet (2.7 m).[3] Her two side paddle wheels were powered by a large, sophisticated walking beam engine and multiple boiler propulsion system with 44 inches (112 cm) diameter cylinders on an 11 foot (3.4 m) stroke, giving a maximum speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).[1] She had a complement of 60 officers and men.[3]
As a privateer Ivy was armed with two brass 24-pounder smoothbore howitzers. As a riverboat her armament was increased to an eight-inch smoothbore mounted aft, and a 32-pounder rifled gun mounted on a forward pivot position on the bow. The conventional description of "rifled 32-pounder" is misleading, however. This gun was a former 32-pounder smoothbore that had been "modernized" by rifling the barrel, and machining and shrinking a single layer of red hot bands of wrought iron onto the breech of the barrel to allow it to operate at much greater breech pressures. This rifling and banding allowed the gun to fire a 100-pound (6.4-inch diameter) conical shot or shell at much greater ranges than would be possible with a 32-pound round shot fired out of a smoothbore barrel. This modification was similar to the James rifle process used to produce siege guns, and the resulting gun tube resembled a Parrott rifle. This gun could be much more accurately described as a 6.4 inches (16 cm) banded rifle, and was the most powerful long range weapon in the mosquito fleet.[4][5]
Privateer
As a privately owned commercial vessel, Ivy had been known as Roger Williams and El-Paraguay. CSS Ivy began her Civil War career as a New Orleans-based privateer V.H. Ivy, sent out to capture Union commercial vessels once Jefferson Davis authorized the distribution of letters of marque and reprisal to private citizens after hostilities began in April 1861. Ivy did well at this, capturing four northern registered vessels. One of these was the icebreaker Enoch Train, which was purchased by private investors and rebuilt as the privateer ironclad ram Manassas. This vessel in turn was commandeered by Commodore Hollins as CSS Manassas.[6]
