CSS Selma (1856)

CSS "Selma" was a steamship in the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War.

"Selma" was a coastwise packet built at Mobile, Alabama for the Mobile Mail Line in 1856. Little doubt now remains that she was originally named "Florida". As the latter, she was inspected and accepted by Captain Lawrence Rousseau, CSN, on April 22, 1861, acquired by the Confederacy in June, cut down and strengthened by hog frames and armed as a gunboat — all, apparently, in the Lake Pontchartrain area. Her upper deck was plated at this time with ⅜ inch iron, partially protecting her boilers, of the low pressure type preferred for fuel economy and greater safety in battle. CSS "Florida" is cited on November 12, 1861 as already in commission and serving Commodore G. N. Rollins' New Orleans defense flotilla under command of Lieutenant Charles W. Hays, CSN.

The "Mobile Evening News" editorialized early in December on the startling change "from her former gay, first-class hotel appearance, having been relieved of her upper works and painted as black as the inside of her smokestack. She carries a jib forward and, we suppose, some steering sail aft, when requisite."

ervice as "Florida"

Although much of "Florida"'s time was spent blockaded in Mobile, she made some forays into Mississippi Sound, two of which alarmed the U.S. Navy's entire Gulf command. On October 19, "Florida" convoyed a merchantman outside. Fortunately for her, the coast was clear of Union ships and batteries, for "Florida" fouled the area's main military telegraph line with her anchor, and had no sooner repaired the damage than she went aground for 36 hours. Luck returning, she tried out her guns on USS|Massachusetts|1860|6, "a large three-masted propeller" she mistook for the faster USS|R. R. Cuyler|1860|2. Being of shallower draft and greater speed, she successfully dodged "Massachusetts" in shoal water off Ship Island. The havoc caused by one well-placed shot with her rifled pivot gun is described by Commander Melancton Smith, USN, commanding "Massachusetts"; :"It entered the starboard side abaft the engine five feet above the water line, cutting entirely through 18 planks of the main deck, carried away the table, sofas, eight sections of iron steam pipe, and exploded in the stateroom on the port side, stripping the bulkheads of four rooms, and setting fire to the vessel ... 12 pieces of the fragments have been collected and weigh 58 pounds."

The first sortie by "Florida" caused consternation. Captain L. M. Powell, USN, in command at Ship Island — soon to be main advance base for the New Orleans campaign — wrote to Flag Officer William McKean, October 22;:"The first of the reported gun steamers made her experimental trial trip on the Massachusetts, and, if she be a sample of the rest, you may perhaps consider that Ship Island and the adjacent waters will require a force of a special kind in order to hold them to our use. The caliber and long range of the rifled cannon from which the shell that exploded in the Massachusetts was fired established the ability of these fast steam gunboats to keep out of the range of all broadside guns, and enables them to disregard the armament or magnitude of all ships thus armed, or indeed any number of them, when sheltered by shoal water."

Protecting CSS "Pamilico", in contrasting white dress and laden with some 400 troops, "the black rebel steamer" "Florida" on December 4 had a brush with USS|Montgomery|1861|6 in Horn Island Pass that caused jubilation in the Southern press. Commander T. Darrah Shaw of "Montgomery", finding his 10-inch shell gun no match for "Florida"'s long-range rifles, signaled Commander Melancton Smith for assistance, and when it was not forthcoming, ran back to safety under the guns of Ship Island. Shaw saved "Montgomery" and lost his command for fleeing from the enemy. Commodore McKean promptly sent Lieutenant James Edward Jouett to relieve him and forwarded Shaw's action report to United States Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, noting, "It needs no comment." Crowed "Richmond Dispatch" on December 14, quoting "Mobile Evening News", "The "Florida" fought at great disadvantage in one respect, owing to her steering apparatus being out of order, but showed a decided superiority in the effectiveness of her armament. That gun which scared the "Massachusetts" so badly, and had nearly proved fatal to her, is evidently a better piece or must be better handled than any which the enemy have."

ervice as "Selma"

With the advent of cruiser CSS "Florida", she was renamed "Selma" in July 1862, Lieutenant Peter U. Murphey, CSN, assuming command.

On February 5, 1863, while steaming down Mobile Bay with 100 extra men in search of a blockader to carry by boarding, "Selma" was bilged by a snag in crossing Dog River Bar, entrance to Mobile, and sank in 8 feet of water. Pumped out hastily, she was back in service February 13.

By the following year, "Selma", CSS "Morgan" and CSS "Gaines", the only ships capable of defending lower Mobile Bay, were having a serious problem with deserting seamen, and intelligence reported "Selma"'s crew as having fallen as low as 15 men about mid-February.

At the crucial Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, "Selma" particularly annoyed Rear Admiral David Farragut, USN by a steady, raking fire as she stood off USS|Hartford|1858|6's bow. After passing the forts, Farragut ordered gunboat USS|Metacomet|1863|6 cast loose from "Hartford" to pursue "Selma". After an hour-long running fight, Murphey, unable to escape to shallows out of reach, had to surrender to faster, more heavily armed "Metacomet". "Selma" lost 7 killed and 8 wounded, including her captain.

That evening, Admiral Farragut commissioned the prize gunboat as USS "Selma" and placed her under the command of Lieutenant Arthur R. Yates, USN. Five days later, "Selma" joined in the Union Navy's bombardment of Fort Morgan. On August 16, she participated in a reconnaissance expedition up the Dog River.

In January 1865, "Selma" was transferred to New Orleans where she served until decommissioned on July 16, 1865. Sold at auction the same day to G. A. Hall, "Selma" was redocumented for merchant service on August 17, 1865 and foundered on June 24, 1868 south of Galveston, Texas, off the mouth of the Brazos River.

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