The CSS
Stonewall was built in Bordeaux, France for the Confederate Navy at the request
of John Slidell the Confederate commissioner to France. It was a 1390 ton ironclad ram. Just before she was ready to launch in
February 1864, the French government enacted an embargo, and sold the ship to
Denmark. When it was completed however
the Danish government would not accept delivery.
The
Confederate Navy secretly took possession of the ship January 10th
1865 and commissioned her the CSS Stonewall.
She was placed under the command of Captain T J Page. She sailed for the Azores on her way to
America, looking for Union Navy and commercial ships to attack. A storm forced the Stonewall into Ferrol,
Spain where she was confronted by the USS Niagara and USS Sacramento in March 1865. Those two wooden ships declined to attack the
heavily armed Stonewall. She reached
Havana, Cuba in May after the Civil War ended, and was turned over to
Spanish authorities.
The
Stonewall was turned over the United States government in July 1865. After sitting for two years in the
Washington, DC Navy Yard, she was sold to Japan.
Great blog. A lot of people don't realize how many ironclads the Confederacy had either built or began building during the war. The number is over 40.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for the info. I knew there were quite a number of Confederate ironclads, but had never really looked at the number.
ReplyDelete