Name Webb Acquired May 1861 Launched 1856 Displacement 594,200 kg | Namesake William Henry Webb Commissioned 1865 Weight 665.5 tons Builder William H. Webb | |
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Operator Confederate States ArmyConfederate States Navy Fate Burned to avoid capture, April 1865 | ||
CSS Webb, a 655-ton side-wheel steam ram, was originally built in New York City in 1856 as the civilian steamship William H. Webb. She received a Confederate privateer's commission at New Orleans in May 1861, but was instead employed as a transport until January 1862. Converted to a "cotton clad" ram by the Confederate Army, Webb thereafter served on the Mississippi and Red Rivers. On February 24, 1863, she participated in the sinking of the Federal ironclad USS Indianola. Webb was transferred to the Confederate Navy in early 1865.
On April 23–24, 1865, she broke through the Federal blockade at the mouth of the Red River, Louisiana, and made a dramatic run down the Mississippi toward the Gulf of Mexico. After passing New Orleans, she was cornered by United States Navy ships, run ashore and destroyed by her crew.