This is a list of ships of the Confederate States Navy (CSN), used by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. Included are some types of civilian vessels, such as blockade runners, steamboats, and privateers which contributed to the war efforts by the CSN. Also included are special types of floating batteries and harbor defense craft.
The Secretary of the CS Navy, Stephen Mallory, was very aggressive on a limited budget in a land-focused war, and developed a two-pronged warship strategy of building ironclad warships for coastal and national defense, and commerce raiding cruisers, supplemented with exploratory use of special weapons such as torpedo boats and torpedoes.
Based upon the successful employment of ironclad warships, particularly batteries, at the Battle of Kinburn, Britain and France decided to focus on armor plated warships, starting with coastal battery designs. Initial ocean-going ironclad cruisers, such as the French Gloire and the British HMS Warrior were only just emerging in 1859 and 1860, and were beyond the budget and timeline necessary for rapid force deployment that the CS Navy needed for immediate coastal defenses in 1861.
Therefore, the Confederate Congress voted $2 million in May 1861 to buy ironclads from overseas, and in July and August started work on construction and converting wooden ships locally. On 12 October 1861, the Manassas became the first ironclad to enter battle when she fought Union warships on the Mississippi. In February 1862, the even larger Virginia joined the Confederate Navy, having been built at Norfolk. The Confederacy built a number of ships designed as versions of the Virginia, of which several saw action. In the failed attack on Charleston on April 7, 1863 two small ironclads, Palmetto State and Chicora participated in the successful defense of the harbor. For the later attack at Mobile Bay, the Union faced the Tennessee, the Confederacy's most powerful ironclad.
The CS Navy ironclad steamer batteries were all designed for national coastal defense.
CSS Albemarle, twin-screw steamer, ironclad, sunk: October 28, 1864
CSS Arkansas, twin-screw steamer, ironclad ram, destroyed: August 5, 1862
CSS Atlanta, triple-screw steamer, ironclad, captured: June 17, 1863
CSS Baltic, surrendered: May 10, 1865
CSS Charleston, steamer, ironclad, destroyed: February 18, 1865
CSS Chicora, steamer, ironclad ram, destroyed: February 18, 1865
CSS Columbia, single screw steamer, ironclad ram, captured: April 26, 1865
CSS Eastport, incomplete, captured: February 8, 1862
CSS Fredericksburg, twin-screw steamer, ironclad ram, destroyed: April 4, 1865
CSS Georgia, ironclad steam battery, scuttled: December 21, 1864
CSS Huntsville, ironclad steam battery, scuttled: April 12, 1865
CSS Louisiana, twin screw and double center-wheel steamer, ironclad, destroyed: April 28, 1862
CSS Manassas, screw steamer, ironclad ram, sunk: April 24, 1862
CSS Milledgeville, steamer ironclad, burned/sunk: December 21, 1864
CSS Mississippi, 3-screw steamer, ironclad, burned: April 25, 1862
CSS Missouri, steam sloop, ironclad, surrendered: June 3, 1865
CSS Mobile, screw steamer, burned before launching: May 21, 1863
CSS Muscogee, twin-screw with center-wheel steamer, ironclad, burned: April 17, 1865
CSS Nashville, side-wheel steamer, ironclad, surrendered: May 10, 1865
CSS Neuse, twin-screw steamer, ironclad, destroyed: March 14, 1865
CSS New Orleans, floating steam battery, scuttled: April 7, 1862
CSS North Carolina, steamer, ironclad, accidentally sank: September 27, 1864
CSS Palmetto State, sloop, ironclad, destroyed: 18 February 1865
CSS Raleigh, sloop, ironclad, wrecked: May 7, 1864
CSS Richmond, screw steamer, ironclad, scuttled: April 3, 1865
CSS Savannah, steam sloop ironclad, burned: December 21, 1864
CSS Tennessee, ironclad ram, destroyed before launching: June 5, 1862
CSS Tennessee, single screw steamer, ironclad, captured: August 5, 1864
CSS Texas, twin-screw steamer, ironclad ram, never completed, captured: April 4, 1865
CSS Tuscaloosa, ironclad steam battery, scuttled: April 12, 1865
CSS Virginia, screw steamer, ironclad ram, destroyed: May 11, 1862
CSS Virginia II, ironclad, destroyed: April 4, 1865
CSS Wilmington, twin-screw steamer, ironclad, destroyed before completion: January 1865
CS Navy ironclad floating batteries lacked steam engines for propulsion and were towed into firing positions.
CSS Arctic, ironclad floating battery, burned: 1865
CSS Phoenix, ironclad floating battery, destroyed: 1865
CS Navy wooden floating batteries were towed into firing positions, and as in the case at Charleston Harbor, used for makeshift defense.
Floating Battery of Charleston Harbor
CSS Memphis, floating battery
CS Navy cruisers were ocean-going ships designed primarily for the Confederate Navy's strategy of guerre de course. Confederate States Navy cruisers were typically lightly armed, with a couple of large guns or a pivot gun, and often very fast. The Navy planned to add ironclad cruisers to their fleet, successfully procuring one, but too late to be of benefit for the war.
CSS Alabama, screw steamer, sloop-of-war, built in Birkenhead, England by John Laird Sons and Company, sunk: June 19, 1864
CSS Alexandra, screw steamer, bark-rigged, built in Liverpool, England, seized before delivery: April 5, 1863
CSS America, racing yacht, scuttled: 1862
CSS Archer, schooner, captured: June 28, 1863
CSS Caleb Cushing, revenue cutter, burned: June 28, 1863
CSS Chickamauga, screw steamer, burned
CSS Clarence, brig, burned: June 12, 1863
CSS Florida, screw steamer, sloop, captured: October 7, 1864
CSS Georgia, screw steamer, iron, sold: June 1, 1864
CSS Georgiana, steamer, destroyed: after March 20, 1863
CSS Lapwing, bark, burned: June 20, 1863
CSS Nashville, side-wheel steamer, brig rigged, sold and used as privateer Rattlesnake and sunk, February 28, 1862
CSS Rappahannock, screw steamer, sloop-of-war, turned over at war's end
CSS Shenandoah, screw steamer, full rigged, iron-framed, turned over to British Government
CSS Sumter, screw steamer, sloop, sold: December 19, 1862
CSS Tacony, bark, burned: June 25, 1863
CSS Tallahassee, twin-screw steamer, sloop, seized: April 9, 1865 by British Government
CSS Tuscaloosa, bark, seized: December 29, 1863
CSS United States, frigate, sail, harbor defense use only, scuttled
But the CS Navy attempts to procure ironclad cruisers from overseas were frustrated as European nations confiscated ships being built for the Confederacy. Only the Stonewall was completed and successfully delivered, and she arrived in American waters just in time for the end of the war.
CSS North Carolina I, seized October 1863 and commissioned as HMS Scorpion
CSS Mississippi II, seized October 1863 and commissioned as HMS Wivern
CSS Stonewall, twin-screw steamer, brig rigged, ironclad, surrendered in Cuba at end of war, returned to US, sold to Japan and renamed Japanese ironclad Kotetsu
CSS Cheops, sister to Stonewall, built in France and sold to Prussia, October 29, 1865, and named SMS Prinz Adalbert
"Ironclad Frigate No. 61", arranged by Captain James H. North, CSN, sold to Denmark, commissioned as Danmark
CSS Appomattox, tugboat, burned: February 10, 1862
CSS Bartow, schooner
CS Bayou City
CSS Beaufort, screw steamer, burned: April 4, 1865
CSS Bienville, side-wheel steamer, destroyed: 1862
CSS Black Warrior, schooner, burned February 10, 1862
CSS Bombshell, steamer, captured: May 5, 1864
CSS Calhoun, side-wheel gunboat, captured: January 23, 1862
CSS Carondelet, side-wheel steamer, destroyed: 1862
CSS Chattahoochee, twin-screw steamer, scuttled: December, 1864
CSS Clifton, side-wheel gunboat, Texas Marine Department, scuttled March 1864
CSS Curlew, side-wheel river steamer, sunk: February 7, 1862
CSS De Soto, side-wheel steamer, captured: September 30, 1862
CSS Defiance, river steamer, destroyed: April 28, 1862
CSS Diana, steamer, burned: April 12, 1863
CSS Drewry, steamer, tender, destroyed: January 24, 1865
CSS Ellis, steamer, tugboat, captured: February 10, 1862
CSS Equator, steamer, burned: 1865
CSS Fanny, screw steamer, iron hull, burned: February 10, 1862
CSS Fashion, schooner
CSS Forrest, steamer, tugboat, burned: February 10, 1862
CSS Fulton
CSS Gaines, side-wheel steamer
CSS General Quitman, steamer, destroyed: April 24, 1862
CSS General Polk, steamer, destroyed: June 26, 1862
CSS George Page, side-wheel river steamer, burned
CSS Germantown, sloop-of-war, burned
CSS Governor Moore, side-wheel steamer, schooner rigged, destroyed: April 23, 1862
CSS Hampton, screw steamer, burned: April 4, 1865
CSS Harmony, steamer, tug
CSS Helen, side-wheel steamer; Charleston harbor gunboat: sank March 10, 1864
CSS Henry Dodge, cutter, schooner rigged
CSS Huntress, side-wheel steamer
CSS Isondiga, steamer, burned: December 21, 1864
CSS Ivy, side-wheel river steamer, burned: 1863
CSS J. A. Cotton, side-wheel river steamer, burned: January 1863
CSS Jackson, side-wheel river steamer, tug, sunk
CSS Jamestown, side-wheel steamer, sunk: May, 1862
CSS Junaluska, steamer, tug, dismantled: 1862
CSS Kate Bruce, schooner, scuttled
CSS Lady Davis, steamer tug, iron, machinery mounted in CSS Palmetto
CSS Launch No. 3, steamer, captured: April, 1862
CSS Launch No. 2, steamer, destroyed: April 24, 1862
CSS Livingston, side-wheel steamer, destroyed: June 26, 1862
CSS Macon, steamer
CSS Matilda, bark
CSS Maurepas, side-wheel steamer, sunk: June, 1862
CSS McRae, screw steamer, sloop rigged, sunk: April 28, 1862
CSS Morgan, side-wheel steamer, surrender: 1865
CSS Morgan, cutter
CSS Morning Light, sail, burned: January 23, 1863
CSS Nansemond, twin-screw gunboat, burned: April 3, 1865
CSS Neptune, steamer, sunk: January 1, 1863
CSS Nina, steamer
CSS Oregon, steamer, scuttled: Apr, 1862
CSS Pamlico, side-wheel river steamer, burned: 1862
CSS Patrick Henry, side-wheel steamer, CSNA school ship, burned: April 4, 1865
CSS Pedee, screw steamer, sunk: 1865
CSS Pickens, cutter, schooner rigged
CSS Plymouth, sloop-of-war, burned: 1862
CSS Polk, side-wheel river steamer, burned
CSS Pontchartrain, side-wheel river steamer, burned: 1863
CSS Raleigh, steamer
CSS Rappahannock, formerly St. Nicholas until seized and purchased in 1861, side-wheel steamer, burned: April, 1862
CSS Rescue, cutter, schooner rigged
CSS Resolute, burned: April 24, 1862
CSS Roanoke, screw steamer, destroyed: April 4, 1865
CSS Queen of the West,
CSS Sampson, side-wheel river steamer
CSS Savannah, steamer, foundered: August 18, 1863
CSS, Schultz, formerly A.H. Schultz, side-wheel river steamer, used as a flag of truce vessel, sunk: February 17, 1865
CSS Sea Bird, side-wheel river steamer, sunk: February 10, 1862
CSS Selma, side-wheel river steamer, captured: August 5, 1864
CSS Spray, steam tug, sunk
CSS St. Mary, side-wheel river steamer, burned
CSS Stono, burned: 1865
CSS Talomico, side-wheel steamer, sunk: 1863
CSS Teaser, tug, captured: 1862
CSS Tiger
CSS Torpedo, screw steamer, tug/tender, iron, burned: April 4, 1865
CSS Tropic
CSS Tuscarora, side-wheel steamer, burned
CSS Velocity
CSS Washington, schooner
CSS Water Witch, side-wheel steamer, burned: December 19, 1864
CSS Winslow, side-wheel river steamer, wrecked
CSS Yadkin, steamer, burned: 1865
CSS David, semi-submersible torpedo boat
CSS David, larger version of David, captured incomplete: February, 1865
CSS Midge, steam torpedo boat, captured: February, 1865
CSS Saint Patrick, semi-submersible torpedo boat
CSS Squire
CSS Squib, spar torpedo boat
CSS Hornet, spar torpedo boat
CSS Scorpion, spar torpedo boat
CSS Wasp, spar torpedo boat
CSS Advance, side-wheel steamer, captured: September 10, 1864
CSS Florida, screw steamer
CSS Harriet Lane, side-wheel steamer
CSS Kate Dale
CSS Lady Stirling, side-wheel steamer, captured: October 28, 1864
CSS Owl
CSS Rob Roy
CSS Robert E. Lee
CSS William G. Hewes, (later SS Ella and Annie), captured: November 9, 1863
CSS Admiral, side-wheel river steamer, captured: April 7, 1862
CSS Atlanta
CSS Appomattox, screw steamer, burned: February 10, 1862
CSS Beaufort
CSS Beauregard, side-wheel coastal steamer, captured: December, 1864
CSS Capitol, side-wheel river steamer burned: June 28, 1862
CSS Campion, side-wheel river steamer, captured: April 7, 1862
CSS Curlew
CSS Ellis
CSS Fanny
CSS George Page
CSS Governor Moore
CSS Grampus, stern-wheel river steamer, scuttled: April 7, 1862
CSS Grand Duke
CSS Ida, side-wheel coastal steamer, captured/burned: December 10, 1864
CSS Jamestown
CSS Nashville, 1861
CSS Ohio Belle, side-wheel river steamer, captured: April 7, 1862
CSS Patrick Henry
CSS Prince, side-wheel river steamer, sunk: April 7, 1862
CSS Raleigh, 1861
CSS Red Rover, side-wheel river steamer, captured: April 7, 1862
CSS Sea Bird
CSS Selma
CSS Tennessee, side-wheel steamer, captured: January, 1862
CSS Winchester, side-wheel river steamer, captured: April 7, 1862
CSS Bombshell
CSS City of Vicksburg, side-wheel steamer transport, damaged then destroyed: February/March 1863
CSS Cotton Plant
CSS Darlington
CSS Mars, side-wheel river steamer, captured: April 7, 1862
CSS The Planter, side-wheel steamer, captured by its slave pilot Robert Smalls, May 13, 1862
CSS Sumter
CSS Yazoo, side-wheel river steamer, sunk: April 7, 1862
CSS Duane, revenue cutter, schooner rigged
CSS Lewis Cass, revenue cutter, schooner rigged
CSS Manassas, revenue cutter, schooner rigged, dismantled
CSS Robert McClelland, revenue cutter, schooner rigged
CSS Kanawha Valley, stern-wheel river steamer, burned: April 7, 1862
Tenders and tugs
CSS Alert, lighthouse tender, schooner rigged
CSS Beaufort, tugboat
CSS Caswell, side-wheel steamer tender, burned
CSS Firefly, side-wheel steamer tender, burned: December 21, 1864
CSS Indian Chief, receiving ship, burned
CSS Resolute, side-wheel steamer, tugboat, captured: December 12, 1864
CSS Retribution, steam tugboat, sold: March 8, 1863
CSS Satellite, tugboat, destroyed: August, 1863
CSS Shrapnel, tender, burned: April 4, 1865
CSS St. Philip, receiving ship, sunk
CSS Uncle Ben, steam tugboat, machinery mounted into CSS North Carolina II
A.C. Gunnison, privateer steam tug
Beauregard, privateer cutter, schooner rigged, captured: November 12, 1861
Calhoun, privateer side-wheel steamer, burned: 1862
Dixie, privateer schooner, captured: April 15, 1862
Gibralter, privateer schooner
Governor A. Mouton, privateer steamer, captured: May 11, 1862
Isabella, privateer screw steamer
J. M. Chapman, privateer schooner, captured: March 15, 1863
J. O. Nixon, privateer schooner
Jefferson Davis, privateer brig, ran aground: mid-August, 1861
Judah, privateer schooner, destroyed: September 14, 1861
Lorton, privateer schooner
Mariner, privateer screw steamer
Music, privateer steamer
Sallie, privateer schooner
Savannah, privateer schooner, captured: June 3, 1861
Sealine, privateer brig
Theodora, privateer side-wheel steamer
V. H. Ivy, privateer steamer
York, privateer pilot boat, schooner rigged, burned: August 9, 1861
Bayou St. John submarine
H. L. Hunley, hand-cranked, sunk: February 17, 1864
Pioneer
Dick Keys, captured: May 7, 1861
Lewis, captured: May 7, 1861
Swan, of Savannah
Berwick Bay
Era No. 5, shallow-draft steamer, captured: February 14, 1863
Caroline, (aka USS Arizona)
Bat, side-wheel steamship, captured: October 10, 1864
Colonel Lamb, side-wheel steamer
Constance Decimer (aka Constance), side-wheel steamer
Flamingo, side-wheel steamer
Lelia, paddle-steamer
Mary Bowers, side-wheel steamer
Memphis, (later USS Memphis)
Monticello, Cuban blockade runner
Norseman
Ruby, side-wheel steamer
San Quintin, Cuban blockade runner
Stonewall Jackson, (ex-Leopard), side-wheel steamer
Denbigh side-wheel steamer, schooner rigged
Used for river defense, CS Army cottonclads were typically more lightly armored and reinforced than a regular ironclad, such as the General Sterling Price, which was converted by placing a 4-inch oak sheath with a 1-inch iron covering on her bow, and by installing double pine bulkheads filled with compressed cotton bales. Many of the cottonclads were outfitted with rams.
River Defense Fleet cotton-clads:
CSS Colonel Lovell, side-wheel steamer, cotton-clad ram, sunk: June 6, 1862
CSS General Beauregard, steamer, cotton-clad ram, sunk: June 6, 1862
CSS General Bragg, steamer, cotton-clad ram, captured: June 6, 1862
CSS Breckinridge, stern-wheel steamer, cotton-clad ram, burned: Apr, 1862
CSS Defiance, side-wheel steamer, cotton-clad ram, burned: 1862
CSS General Earl Van Dorn, steamer, cotton-clad ram, burned
CSS General M. Jeff Thompson, steamer, cotton-clad ram, sunk: June 6, 1862
CSS General Sterling Price, steamer, cotton-clad ram, sunk: June 6, 1862
CSS General Sumter, steamer, cotton-clad ram, captured: June 6, 1862
CSS Governor Moore, steamer, schooner rigged, cotton-clad ram, destroyed: April 24, 1862
CSS Little Rebel, steamer, cotton-clad ram, captured: June 6, 1862
CSS Resolute, side-wheel steamer, cotton-clad ram
CSS Stonewall Jackson, side-wheel steamer, cotton-clad ram, burned: April 24, 1862
CSS Warrior, side-wheel steamer, cotton-clad ram, destroyed: April, 1862
Other CS Army cotton-clads:
CSS Grand Duke, steamer, cotton-clad, burned: 1863
CSS Josiah A. Bell, steamer, cotton-clad, operated by Texas Marine Department
CSS Queen of the West, river steamer, cotton-clad and ironclad ram, exploded: April 14, 1863
CSS Stonewall Jackson
CSS Uncle Ben, steamer, cotton-clad, operated by Texas Marine Department
CSS Webb, river steamer, cotton-clad ram, transferred to CS Navy early 1865, burned: April, 1865
CSA Bayou City, CS Army gunboat, side-wheel steamer
CSA General Lee, CS Army transport
CSA John Simonds, CS Army support ship, side-wheel steamer, sunk: April 7, 1862
CSA Louisville, CS Army cargo steamer, captured: July 13, 1863
CSA Planter, CS Army transport, side-wheel steamer, surrendered: May 13, 1862
CSA Neptune, CS Army tugboat, sank: January 1, 1863
Alvarado - prize bark, captured: by privateer Jefferson Davis, July 21, 1861
Enchantress - prize schooner, captured: by privateer Jefferson Davis July 6, 1861
CSS Segar
CSS Smith
CSS W. R. Miles
