Sketch of CSSHuntsville, Mobile, Alabama, 1864[1]
History
Confederate States
Name	Huntsville
Namesake	Huntsville, Alabama
Ordered	May 1, 1862
Builder	Confederate Naval Works at Selma
Launched	February 7, 1863
Completed	August 1, 1863
Out of service	April 12, 1865
Fate	Scuttled in Spanish River to prevent capture
General characteristics
Length	150 or 152 ft (45.7 or 46.3 m)
Beam	32 ft (9.8 m)
Draught	7 ft (2.1 m)
Propulsion	Steam
Speed	4knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph)
Complement	40
Armament	1: 6.4-inch (163 mm)Muzzle-loading rifle 3–4: 32-pounder smoothbores

CSSHuntsville was aConfederateironclad floatingbattery built atSelma, Alabama, from 1862 to 1863 during theAmerican Civil War.^[2]

Huntsville was ordered on May 1, 1862, by theConfederate States Navy. She was launched at theConfederate Naval Works at Selma on February 7, 1863, and finished inMobile. She was finally delivered on August 1, 1863. She was only partially armored, with the armor plate delivered by theShelby Iron Company ofShelby, Alabama, and theAtlanta Rolling Mill.^[3] She had defective engines that were obtained from a river steamer and an incomplete armament, so was assigned to guard the waters around Mobile.^[3]

Huntsville escaped up the Spanish River following theBattle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864. The city of Mobile held out another eight months, with the upper portion ofMobile Bay remaining in Confederate hands. She, along with theCSS Tuscaloosa, was scuttled to prevent capture on April 12, 1865, following the surrender of the city. The wreck lies where theSpanish River splits off from theMobile River on the north side of Blakeley Island, just north of Mobile, until being located in 1985.^[4]

• Bisbee, Saxon T. (2018).Engines of Rebellion: Confederate Ironclads and Steam Engineering in the American Civil War. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press.ISBN 978-0-81731-986-1.
• Canney, Donald L. (2015).The Confederate Steam Navy 1861-1865. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing.ISBN 978-0-7643-4824-2.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (2006).Civil War Navies 1855–1883. The U.S. Navy Warship Series. New York: Routledge.ISBN 0-415-97870-X.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984).Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books.ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
• Still, William N. Jr. (1985) [1971].Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.ISBN 0-87249-454-3.

30°46′09″N88°01′14″W / 30.76924°N 88.02053°W /30.76924; -88.02053

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• Ironclad floating batteries of the Confederate States Navy
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• Ships built in Selma, Alabama
• 1863 ships
• Maritime incidents in April 1865
• Scuttled vessels
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• Shipwrecks of the Alabama coast
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