css virginia ii

style="text-align: center" colspan="2"\|300px Smokestack from CSS Virginia II
lign=center style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"\|Career	align=center style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"\|Confederate Navy Jack
aid down:	1863
aunched:	June 1864
ommissioned:	1864
ate:	Burned to prevent capture
olspan=2 align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy;"\|General Characteristics
ength:	197 feet
eam:	47 feet 6 inches
raft:	14 feet
ropulsion:	Steam engine
rmament:	1 11" Brooke smoothbore, 1 8" Brooke rifle, 2 6.4" Brooke rifle
omplement:	150 officers and men

CSS Virginia II, an ironclad ram, was laid down at the Confederate Navy Yard at Richmond, Virginia in 1863. Acting Constructor William A. Graves, CSN superintended her building, but in order to conserve scarce metal, shortened the casemate called for in the original John L. Porter plans; armor was 6" thick on the forward face and 5" on the sides and after face. Virginia II, Commander Robert B. Pegram, CSN, went into action on 21 June 1864 as flagship of Commodore John K. Mitchell, CSN, during the engagement between the Confederate James River Squadron and Federal ships in Trent's Reach. On 13 August and 22 October she exchanged fire with the enemy at Dutch Gap and on 17 August participated in the capture of Signal Hill. Her final action took place on 23-24 January 1865 when the Confederate squadron in the James River, including ironclads Virginia II, CSS Richmond and CSS Fredericksburg, with five smaller vessels, made a second unsuccessful attempt to circumvent obstructions in Trent's Reach. Virginia II suffered damage which required extensive repairs. Virginia II was one of the ships destroyed in the James River before the evacuation of Richmond on 3 April 1865. She was raised by the United States after the U.S. Civil War.

References

Virginia II

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