For other ships with the same name, see CSS Manassas (clipper).
History
Confederate States of America
Name
Manassas; originally Enoch Train
Namesake
Battle of First Manassas; Enoch Train
Owner
Boston Steam Tow-Boat Co.[1]
Builder
James. O. Curtis, Medford, Massachusetts[1]
Launched
1853[1] or 1855
Commissioned
September 12, 1861
Decommissioned
April 24, 1862
Fate
Sunk in battle April 24, 1862
General characteristics
Class and type
Steam tug,[1] Ironclad
Displacement
387 tons
Tons burthen
384+1⁄2 tons[1]
Length
143 ft (44 m)
Beam
33 ft (10 m)
Draft
17 ft (5.2 m)
Propulsion
Steam engine
Complement
36 officers and men
Armament
One 64-pounder Dahlgren, later replaced by one 32-pounder
Map of Louisiana during the Civil War. CSS Manassas was based in New Orleans and helped defend the lower Mississippi.[2]
CSS Manassas, formerly the steam icebreaker Enoch Train, was built in 1855 by James O. Curtis as a twin-screw towboat at Medford, Massachusetts. A New Orleans commission merchant, Captain John A. Stevenson, acquired her for use as a privateer after she was captured by another privateer (later gunboat) CSS Ivy. Her fitting out as Manassas was completed at Algiers, Louisiana; her conversion to a ram of a radically modern design made her the first ironclad ship built for the Confederacy.
^ abcde
Gleason, Hall (1937). Old Ships and Ship-Building Days of Medford. Medford, MA: J.C. Miller. p. 77.
CSSManassas, formerly the steam icebreaker Enoch Train, was built in 1855 by James O. Curtis as a twin-screw towboat at Medford, Massachusetts. A New...
deployed three fire rafts, which were ignited and followed the ironclad ram CSSManassas into the action. The attack occurred after moonset in the early hours...
CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship built by the Confederate States Navy during the first year of the American Civil War; she was...
CSS Jamestown, originally a side-wheel, passenger steamer, was built at New York City in 1853, and seized at Richmond, Virginia in 1861 for the Virginia...
early in the war had converted a tugboat into an armored vessel. As CSSManassas, she was actually the first armored vessel to go into combat in the war...
CSS Arkansas was the lead ship of her class of two casemate ironclads built for the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Completed in...
surviving Civil War-era ironclads in existence: USS Monitor, CSS Neuse, USS Cairo, and CSS Muscogee. Images of USS Cairo USS Cairo in her final resting...
work on construction and converting wooden ships. On 12 October 1861, CSSManassas became the first ironclad to enter combat, when she fought Union warships...
Dupuy de Lôme had designed an ironclad with a ram. The quick success of CSS Virginia's ramming attack on USS Cumberland at the Battle of Hampton Roads...
Locomotive of Kiowa Creek CSS Louisiana George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, explorers lost on Mount Everest in 1924 CSSManassas Mary Celeste USS Milwaukee...
Ships involved in the ensuing conflict at the location include the CSSManassas, the USS Vincennes, and the USS Richmond. Port Eads is located at the...
CSS Sea Bird was a sidewheel steamer in the Confederate States Navy. Sea Bird was built at Keyport, New Jersey in 1854, was purchased by North Carolina...
CSS Grampus was a stern-wheel river steamer built in 1856 at McKeesport, Pennsylvania, for civilian employment. Taken by the Confederate Army in early...
CSS George Page, a 410-ton sidewheel steamship, was originally built as a transport at Washington, D.C. in 1853. She was attached to the Quartermaster's...
famed for being the first to come to the aid of RMS Titanic survivors. CSSManassas, the first ironclad of the civil war, formerly the icebreaker Enoch Train...
Pillow and Island No. 10. All of these were unarmored; the armored ram CSSManassas would have been there also, but she was found to be unable to operate...
Global Information
Confederate States of America