
The
Southfield was rammed and quickly sank, almost taking the Miami with it.
Having made its way through torpedoes set by the Union Navy in the Roanoke River, the Albemarle made its way to Plymouth. She was met at dawn by two Federal vessels, the Southfield and the Miami, who had stretched a fabric of spars and chains between them to entangle the Albemarle. The Southfield was rammed and quickly sank, almost taking the Miami with it. The Miami fired on the Albemarle, but the mighty shell bounced off its ironclad deck and exploded close to the Miami, killing the officer who had fired the shot. The Miami ran, and the Albemarle turned her guns on the Union encampments in Plymouth. Meanwhile, confederate brigades were attacking the town from the south and east. After three weeks of shelling, the Federals surrendered.

"Wood versus Iron"
19th Century photograph of an artwork by Acting Second Engineer Alexander C. Stuart, USN, 1864.
It shows CSS Albemarle engaging several Federal gunboats on Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, on 5 May 1864. USS Sassacus is in left center, ramming the Confederate ironclad. Other U.S. Navy ships seen are (from left): Commodore Hull, Wyalusing and Mattabesett. The Confederate transport Bombshell, captured during the action, is in the right background.
Albemarle was not significantly damaged during this action, which left Sassacus disabled by a hit in one of her boilers.
19th Century photograph of an artwork by Acting Second Engineer Alexander C. Stuart, USN, 1864.
It shows CSS Albemarle engaging several Federal gunboats on Albemarle Sound, North Carolina, on 5 May 1864. USS Sassacus is in left center, ramming the Confederate ironclad. Other U.S. Navy ships seen are (from left): Commodore Hull, Wyalusing and Mattabesett. The Confederate transport Bombshell, captured during the action, is in the right background.
Albemarle was not significantly damaged during this action, which left Sassacus disabled by a hit in one of her boilers.
