Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Tennessee (II)
ex
 CSS Tennessee

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal
Casemated, Ironclad Ram:
  • Laid down in October 1862 by Henry D. Bassett at Selma AL.
  • Launched in late February 1863
  • Commissioned, CSS Tennessee, 16 February 1864, at Mobile, AL., LT. James D. Johnston CSN in command
  • CSS Tennessee was assigned to the defense of Mobile Bay
  • During the Battle of Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864 CSS Tennessee was forced to surrender to superior federal naval forces under the command of Rear Admiral Farragut
  • Commissioned USS Tennessee, 5 August 1864, Acting Volunteer LT. Pierre Giraud in charge
  • USS Tennessee joined the Mississippi Squadron after repairs at New Orleans
  • Decommissioned, 19 August 1865, and laid up at New Orleans
  • Sold at auction, 27 November 1867 to J.F. Armstrong for scrapping
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,273 t.
    Length 209'
    Beam 48'
    Draft 14'
    Speed 6 kts.
    Complement unknown
    Armament
    two 7" Brooke rifles
    four 6" Brooke rifles
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    CSS Tennessee
    Selma 153k "Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864"
    Reproduction of an 1864 pen & ink drawing by George S. Waterman, C.S.N., depicting the action as seen from above and inside the entrance to Mobile Bay. Confederate ships present are (as identified on the drawing);
    CSS Selma
    CSS Morgan
    CSS Gaines (shown twice, in the battle line, and beached off Fort Morgan after the battle) and
    CSS Tennessee. Union monitors shown are (from the front of the line);
    (sinking after striking a mine),
    USS Manhattan
    USS Winnebago and
    USS Chickasaw. The leading two steam sloops in the Union line are
    USS Brooklyn and
    USS Hartford. Small diagram in the lower right represents the various efforts by Union ships to ram Tennessee later in the action.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 42392    		 Robert Hurst
    Battle of Mobile Bay 77k "Battle of Mobile Bay ... Passing Fort Morgan and the Torpedoes". Print after an artwork by J.O. Davidson, 1886, depicting the Union and Confederate squadrons at the moment that USS Tecumseh sank after striking a mine ("torpedo"). Confederate ships (left foreground) are CSS Morgan, CSS Gaines and CSS Tennessee. Union monitors visible astern of USS Tecumseh are USS Manhattan and USS Winnebago. USS Brooklyn is leading the outer line of Union warships, immediately followed by USS Hartford. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 42396. Courtesy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936.
    Battle of Mobile Bay 68k Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Oil on canvas (40" x 66") by Xanthus Smith (1839-1929), signed and dated by the artist, 1890. Depicting the surrender of CSS Tennessee to the Union squadron commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut. Identifiable US Navy ships present include: USS Winnebago (monitor in the left distance), USS Chickasaw (monitor in the foreground) and USS Hartford (Farragut's flagship, in the right center, painted light gray). US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # KN-843 Courtesy of the US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, MD., Gift of Henry Huddleston Rogers, 1930.
    Battle of Mobile Bay 171k Oil on canvas painting by the artist Tom Freeman entitled "Point Blank". The Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864. The Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee does considerable damage to the USS Oneida. In the foreground, the dual turreted monitor USS Chickasaw blasts away at the Tennessee. In the left rear, the monitor USS Winnebago rushes to give aid. Photo and partial text courtesy of Old Glory Gallery and Frame Shoppe
    Tennessee
    098619817    		 326k During the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. USS Monongahela rams CSS Tennessee.
    From a war time sketch. Engraving by Xanthus Russell Smith. Image taken from p. 424 of the 1887 book "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers", based upon “The Century War Series", volume 4.    		 Robert Hurst
    Battle of Mobile Bay 179k Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Line engraving after an artwork by J.O. Davidson, published in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War", Volume 4, page 378. Entitled "Surrender of the Tennessee, Battle of Mobile Bay", it depicts CSS Tennessee in the center foreground, surrounded by the Union warships (from left to right): USS Lackawanna, USS Winnebago, USS Ossipee, USS Brooklyn, USS Itasca, USS Richmond, USS Hartford and USS Chickasaw. Fort Morgan is shown in the right distance. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 1276 Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Maryland. Gift of Henry Huddleston Rogers, 1930.
    Tennessee 101k "The 'Tennessee' at Bay, in the Battle of Mobile Bay", 5 August 1864.
    Halftone reproduction of a Currier & Ives lithograph, published in "Admiral Franklin Buchanan, Fearless Man of Action", by Charles Lee Lewis. The original lithograph was provided by Mr. Franklin Buchanan Owen. Another copy is reportedly held by the Library of Congress
    This view depicts, none too accurately, CSS Tennessee in the center at the time she surrendered, surrounded by the Union warships. The latter include (at right) the twin-turret monitors USS Hartfordat right. One of the single-turret monitors would be USS Manhattan. There was no second single-turret monitor present at this stage of the battle. The large ship in the left foreground is presumably USS Hartford. Fort Morgan is shown in the right distance, but much closer to the action than was actually the case.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 1055    		 Robert Hurst
    Tennessee 98k The Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. CSS Tennessee surrounded by Union warships, near the end of the battle. The two twin-turret monitors depicted off her bow and stern are USS Winnebago and USS Chickasaw. Civil War vintage artwork, photographed by T. Lilienthal, New Orleans, Louisiana. Courtesy of the Philibrick Collection, Kittery, Maine.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 1678    		 Robert Hurst
    Richmond
    098605519    		 183k A Robert Fulton Weir stetch of USS Richmond engaging CSS Tennessee during the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864.
    Mariner's Museum, Newport News, VA.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Tennessee 80k "Surrender of Ram Tennessee".
    Photograph of a sketch by 3rd Assistant Engineer Robert Weir, of USS Richmond. It depicts CSS Tennessee surrounded by U.S. Navy warships at the conclusion of the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Ship in the left foreground is USS Hartford. Twin-turret monitors at right are USS Chickasaw and USS Winnebago.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # 42395    		 Robert Hurst
    Tennessee 87k "Capture of the Confederate ram Tennessee"
    Artwork by J.O. Davidson, depicting the surrender of CSS Tennessee at the conclusion of the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. U.S. Navy ships depicted include monitor USS Winnebago and sloop USS Monongahela, in the left background; sloop USS Ossipee "in collision with Tennessee", in center; monitor USS Chickasaw "lying across the stern of Tennessee", in right foreground; gunboat USS Itasca, in right distance; and flagship USS Hartford further to the right.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # 42394    		 Robert Hurst
    Tennessee 131k "Capture of the Tennessee"
    "Harper's History of the Great Rebellion", August 1864, pg.746.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Tennessee
    098619816    		 196k CSS Tennessee captured at Mobile, AL., 5 August 1864, drawn by G. W. Peters.
    Image from "A Popular History of the United States, Volume 5, p. 243", 1 January 1897.    		 Robert Hurst
    Tennessee 59k Watercolor by F. Muller, circa 1900 of CSS Tennessee. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C.
    US Naval History an Heritage Command photo # NH 83805-KN (Color).    		  
    Tennessee 314k CSS Ram Tennessee as she appeared after her surrender to Union naval forces, 5 August 1864. Drawing from "History of the Confederate States Navy" by J. Thomas Scharf. Tommy Trampp
    Tennessee
    098619815    		 129k Deck plan of Confederate ram CSS Tennessee, and her appearance after the battle.
    Image from "Our Navy in Time of War (1861-1898)", by Franklin Matthews 91856-1917), pub. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1899.    		 Robert Hurst
    Tennessee 49k Fragment of the flag from the Confederate Ship CSS Tennessee (1864-1864). This flag was recovered by Ensign John Utter who was acting Ensign onboard during 1864 and became Acting Master shortly afterward.
    US Navy photo # 2010-83-1 from the Collection of the Curator Branch; Naval History and Heritage Command.    		 Robert Hurst
    Tennessee 155k CSS Tennessee model Tommy Trampp
    Tennessee 200k
    USS Tennessee
    Tennessee 74k USS Tennessee probably off New Orleans, Louisiana, circa 1865.
    US Naval History an Heritage Command photo # NH 51951.    		  
    Tennessee 113k USS Tennessee probably off New Orleans, Louisiana, circa 1865.
    US Library of Congress photo # 3b10016u.    		 Bill Gonyo
    Tennessee 710k USS Tennessee probably in the Mississippi , circa 1865. A CDV by McPherson & Oliver, New Orleans, LA, with period ink inscription on verso: Ram "Tennessee" captured Mobile Bay August 5th 1864 / Fleet of Rear Admiral D.G. Farragut. Robert Hurst
    USS Tennessee (II)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The "Old Navy" Ship Photo Index
    Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster.
    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 2 October 2020