CSS Neuse-- Part 1

From the Encyclopedia of North Carolina.

In October 1862, the Confederate Navy commissioned the building of the ironclad CSS Neuse to oppose Union presence in North Carolina's sounds and rivers.  It was one of 22 ironclads the South commissioned  during the war.

Designed by naval contractor John L. Porter and built by Howard and Ellis shipbuilders of New Bern, the Neuse was constructed near the town of Whitehall (now Seven Springs) on the Neuse River, for which it was named. 

Its sister ship, the CSS Albemarle was built at the same time on the Roanoke River in the town of Scotland Neck.

Ironclad ships had proven themselves earlier in 1862, when the ironclad ram CSS Virginia had attacked the Union Fleet at Hampton Roads in Virginia.  It was hoped that the ironclads would be able to offset the huge superiority in numbers enjoyed by the Union fleet.

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