C.S.S. Nashville

C.S.S. Nashville. . Built by William Collyer in New York City. She was ordered by New York merchants and launched September 22, 1853. Her maiden voyage was from New York to Charleston, South Carolina, under the name United States Mail Steamship Nashville, with a cargo of mail and passengers. The bottom of the vessel was sheathed in copper in 1854 to prevent marine growth. She was overhauled in 1859, and received new boilers in June 1860. , The Nashville entered Charleston Harbor April 12, 1861, as the Civil War began. She was purchased by the newly formed Confederate States Navy for $100,000. She was the first vessel commissioned by the Confederate States Government and the first to fly a Confederate flag in England. , She entered South Hampton England, November 21, 1861, after capturing and burning the Union ship Harvey Birch. , The C.S.S. Nashville, renamed the Privateer Rattlesnake, came to an end of blockade running on February 28, 1863. Trapped in the Ogeechee by a sandbar at low tide, the guns of Fort McAllister could not protect her and within an hour the Union Ironclad Montauk had sunk the Confederate vessel.