CSS Palmetto State
A wash drawing of Palmetto State by R. G. Skerrett
Namesake: Nickname for South Carolina
Laid Down: January 1862
Launched: September 1862
Commissioned: September 1862
Fate: Scuttled and burned, 18 February 1865
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Characteristics
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Class & Type: Richmond-class ironclad
Length: 174 ft. (overall length)
150 ft. (length between Perpendicular)
Beam: 43 ft.
Draft: 12 ft.
Depth of hold: 12 ft.
Propulsion: 1 x shaft
2 x direct-acting steam engines
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Armament
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1 x 7-in. Brooke rifle
1 x 6.4-in Brooke rifle
2 x 8-in. smoothbore guns
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Battles
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Entering Charleston Harbor steamed under the Union gunboat USS Mercedita, ramming as well as firing heavy shot point-blank into her hull. Her cannons could not be depressed low enough to fire at the Palmetto State, the Union ship was forced to surrender. Turned her attention to the USS Keystone State firing several shells into the blockader.
Joined in the defense of Charleston
18 February 1865: set afire to avoid capture
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CSS Palmetto State. https://en.wikipedia.org/CSS_Palmetto_State. Accessed: 16 January 2026
Luraghi, Raimondo. A History of the Confederate Navy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996. p 209, 271, 337
Stern, Philip Van Doren. The Confederate Navy A Pictorial History. New York: Da Capo Press, 1992. p 130, 143-144, 243
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