View source for CSS Palmetto State

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=CSSPalmettoState.jpg
|Ship caption=A [[wash (visual arts)|wash]] drawing of ''Palmetto State'' by R. G. Skerrett
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=Confederate States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Confederate States of America|naval}}
|Ship name=''Palmetto State''
|Ship namesake=Nickname of [[South Carolina]]
|Ship operator=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down=January 1862
|Ship launched=September 1862
|Ship sponsor=
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed=
|Ship commissioned=September 1862
|Ship recommissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship fate=[[Scuttled]] and burned, 18 February 1865
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Richmond|ironclad}}
|Ship type=
|Ship tonnage=
|Ship displacement=
|Ship tons burthen=
|Ship length=*{{cvt|174|ft|m|1}} ([[o/a]])
*{{cvt|150|ft|m|1}} ([[p/p]])
|Ship beam={{cvt|43|ft|m|1}} 
|Ship draft={{cvt|12|ft|m|1}} 
|Ship hold depth={{cvt|12|ft|m|1}}
|Ship power=2 × [[fire-tube boiler]]s
|Ship propulsion=*1 × shaft
*2 × [[Marine steam engine#Direct acting|direct-acting steam engines]]
|Ship speed={{convert|6|-|7|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=120 officers and men
|Ship crew=
|Ship armament=*1 × {{convert|7|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} [[Brooke rifle]]
*1 × {{cvt|6.4|in|mm|0}} Brooke rifle
*2 × {{convert|8|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} [[smoothbore]] guns
|Ship armor=[[Casemate#Naval|Casemate]]: {{cvt|4|in|0}}
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''CSS{{refn|Confederate States Ship.<ref>Silverstone 2006, p. xviii</ref>|group=Note}} ''Palmetto State''''' was one of six {{sclass|Richmond|ironclad|4}} [[casemate ironclad]] rams built for the [[Confederate States Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Completed in 1862, she defended [[Charleston, South Carolina]] and was burnt in 1865 to prevent her capture by advancing Union troops.

==Background and description==
[[File:Confederate ironclads Chicora and Palmetto State in Charleston harbor.png|thumb|Confederate ironclads ''Chicora'' and ''Palmetto State'' in Charleston Harbor]]
The ship was built to a design by the Chief Naval Constructor, [[John L. Porter]], based on his earlier work on the ironclad {{ship|CSS|Virginia}}, retaining the traditional curving ship-type [[hull (watercraft)|hull]], but with flat ends to the [[casemate#Naval|casemate]]. As usual for Confederate ships, dimensions vary slightly between sources. The plan showed an [[long overall|overall length]] of {{convert|174|ft|m|1}} and a [[length between perpendiculars]] of {{convert|150|ft|m|1}} with a maximum [[beam (ship)|beam]] of {{convert|43|ft|1}}, a moulded beam of {{convert|32|ft|m|1}} and a [[depth of hold]] of {{cvt|12|ft|m|1}}.<ref>Canney, pp. 34, 40–42</ref> The ship's [[draft (hull)|draft]] was 12 feet,<ref name="DANFS">Palmetto State</ref><ref name=s2>Silverstone 2006, p. 152</ref> although Canney says that ''Palmetto State'' drew {{convert|14|ft|m|1}} of water. She was fitted with a hatch for the [[Maritime pilot|pilot]] above the [[steering wheel]] for ease in issuing orders to the [[helmsman]] and [[engine room]] [[abaft]] the [[funnel (ship)|funnel]] even though it blocked the pilot's forward vision.<ref name=c9>Canney, p. 42</ref>

The propulsion systems of the ''Richmond''-class ironclads were different for each of the ships, often depending on what could be sourced locally. ''Palmetto State''{{'}}s pair of single-cylinder, [[marine steam engine#Direct acting|direct-acting steam engines]] were taken from the gunboat {{ship|CSS|Lady Davis}} serving in Charleston. They used steam provided by a pair of horizontal [[fire-tube boiler]]s built by the locally based Cameron & Company to drive a {{convert|8|or|10|ft|adj=on|m|1}} propeller. The boilers were probably {{convert|11|ft|m|1}} tall, {{convert|10|ft|m|1}} long, and {{convert|6|ft|9|in|m|1}} wide. The ironclad had a speed of {{convert|6|-|7|kn|lk=in}}<ref>Bisbee, pp. 98–99, 189–190</ref><ref name=h7/> and a crew of 120.<ref name=c9/>

''Palmetto State'' was initially armed with one {{convert|7|in|0|adj=on}} [[Brooke rifle]] on a [[pivot gun|pivot mount]] at the [[bow (ship)|bow]], a {{convert|6.4|in|0|adj=on}} Brooke rifle on a pivot mount in the stern, with two {{convert|8|in|cm|adj=on|1}} [[Muzzleloader|muzzle-loading]] [[smoothbore]] guns on the [[broadside (naval)|broadside]].<ref name=c9/> The ship was later equipped with a [[spar torpedo]] on her bow in 1863.<ref name=h7>Holcombe, p. 17</ref> The [[Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]] merely states that her armament consisted of two rifled guns and two smoothbore {{convert|9|in|adj=on|0}} guns.<ref name=DANFS/> Naval historian Raimondo Luraghi states that the ship was armed with two Brooke rifles and two smoothbores,<ref name=l8>Luraghi, p. 209</ref> Naval historian Donald Canney says that a January 1865 report shows the ship equipped with ten 7-inch Brooke rifles, four on each broadside and one each in the bow and stern. He does not believe that it is accurate because the addition of so many additional guns would require rebuilding the casemate and would strain the ship's hull with so much extra weight.<ref name=c9/>

Her casemate armor was {{convert|4|in|0}} thick, backed by {{convert|22|in|0}} of wood, while {{convert|2|in|0}} of iron armor was used everywhere else.

==Construction and career==
[[File:Attack on the U.S. Gunboat Mercedita by the Rebel Ram Palmetto State, off Charleston Harbor - NYIN 1863.jpg|thumb|Attack on the U.S. Gunboat ''Mercedita'' by the Rebel Ram ''Palmetto State'', off Charleston Harbor. New York Illustrated News]]
Named for the nickname of [[South Carolina]],<ref>Silverstone 1984, p. 52</ref> ''Palmetto State'' was [[laid down]] in January 1862 by Cameron & Company at their [[shipyard]] in Charleston, South Carolina.

Before dawn on 31 January 1863 ''Palmetto State'' and her [[sister ship]] {{ship|CSS|Chicora}} crept through thick haze to surprise the [[United States|Union]] blockading force off Charleston. Taking full advantage of her low silhouette in the darkness, the ironclad steamed in under the guns of the Union [[gunboat]] {{USS|Mercedita}}, ramming as well as firing heavy shot [[point-blank]] into her hull. Completely disabled, with cannons that could not be depressed low enough to fire at ''Palmetto State'', the Union ship was forced to surrender. The ram then turned her attention to {{USS|Keystone State|1853|6}}, firing several shells into the blockader. Her steam chests punctured, ''Keystone State'' lost all power and had to be towed to safety. A long-range cannon duel between the Confederate rams and other Union blockaders then took place, but little damage was inflicted by either side before ''Palmetto State'' and ''Chicora'' withdrew to safety within Charleston Harbor. The attack by the Confederate rams caused the temporary withdrawal of the blockaders from their inshore positions and led to the claim by the [[Confederate States|Confederate government]], unsuccessfully advanced, that the blockade of Charleston had been broken.

''Palmetto State'' also joined in the defense of Charleston during [[Admiral]] [[Samuel Francis du Pont]]'s unsuccessful 1–7 April 1863 attack on the harbor forts. Her officers and men were cited for rendering valuable services on the night of 6–7 September 1863 during the removal troops from [[Fort Wagner]] and [[Battery Gregg]].

''Palmetto State'' was later set afire by the Confederates to avoid capture upon the evacuation of Charleston on 18 February 1865.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{commons category|CSS Palmetto State}}
* {{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 journal |last1=Koehler |first1=R. B.|last2=Sileo|first2=Thomas |title=Question 40/43: Fates of Confederate Ironclads |journal=Warship International |date=2008 |volume=XLV |issue=4 |pages=276–277 |issn=0043-0374|name-list-style=amp}}
*{{cite web |title=Palmetto State |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/confederate_ships/palmetto-state.html |website=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships |publisher=Naval History and Historical Command |access-date=21 June 2022}}
* {{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}}
* {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships |year=1984 |publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Still|first=William N. Jr.|title=Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads|isbn=0-87249-454-3|orig-date=1971|year=1985|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|location=Columbia, South Carolina}}

{{CSN ironclads}}
{{1865 shipwrecks}}
{{coord missing|South Carolina}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmetto State}}
[[Category:Ironclad warships of the Confederate States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Charleston, South Carolina]]
[[Category:1862 ships]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast]]
[[Category:Ship fires]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1865]]