150 Years Ago... March 16, 1864...Reports of CSS Albermarle Alarm Federals (North Carolina) On Albermarle Sound, Union Navy operatives are becoming increasingly concerned about reports they are hearing of a new Confederate ship under construction up the Roanoke River. The newest information indicates that the ship will be a ram, and will be made with two layers of iron, upping the ante for the single-layered Monitor class. The reports, which are being received from spies and other agents across the remarkably porous border, claim that the CSS Albermarle is supposed to sail early in April 1864. Construction of the Confederate ironclad had begun in January 1863. As word of the under-construction gunboat has reached Union naval officers stationed in the region, they have appealed to the War Department for an overland expedition to destroy the ship, but the Union Army has never felt it could spare the troops needed to carry out such a mission. It is a decision that will prove to be very short-sighted.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 11:33:51 +0000
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