Here Comes the CSS Albemarle

MARCH 16TH, 1864: Lt.Cmdr. Flusser wrote Rear Admiral Lee on Confederate progress on CSS Albemarle on the Roanoke River, NC. The ram was reported to have two layers of iron to be ready to proceed to Williamston on 1 April. //// Flusser wrote again on the 18th, saying he'd heard the Albemarle was to have seven inches of iton plating: "I think the reporters are putting on the iron rather heavy. I am inclined to believe her armor is not more than stated in one of my former letters-- 3 inches." //// The Albemarle actually ended up with two inches. More iron would have been better, but did not happen due to shallow nature of the Roanoke River and difficulty in getting iron plating. Not to mention that Confederate ironclads had poor engines. The more iron, the harder to move them. //// By 24 March, Flusser reported that the Albemarle was at Hamilton and that torpedoes there had been removed so the ship could proceed down the river. //// Here Comes the Albemarle. --Old B=R'er