FEBRUARY 6TH, 1865: Rear Admiral Porter, having received intelligence that a new Confederate ram was near completion at a shipyard on the Roanoke River, and would soon enter Albemarle Sound, ordered Commander William H. Macomb, commanding the squadron in the Sound, to make every preparation to destroy her when she came down the Roanoke.
Porter directed Macomb to fit a spar "to the bow of every gunboat and tug, with a torpedo on it, and run at the ram, all together. No matter how many of your vessels get sunk, one or the other of them will sink the ram if the torpedo is cooly exploded.
"Have your large rowboats fitted with torpedoes also, and...put your large vessels alongside of her, let the launches and small torpedo boats run in and sink her...."
Directions for a Torpedo Attack, Ala Cushing. --Old B-R'er
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