Nature Coast Hobby Shop

David Torpedo 1863

CSS David, a 50 foot steam semi-submerseable torpedo boat of cigar shaped hull design, was privately built at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1863 under the supervision of David C. Edbaugh. After being taken over by the Confederate Navy, she made a daring spar torpedo attack on the Federal ironclad New Ironsides on the night of October 5, 1863.

The big ship was damaged and remained on station, but the David was nearly lost when her powerplant was swamped by the explosion of her torpedo. However, her engineer was able to regain power allowing her to escape back to Charleston. David attacked the Federal gun boat Memphis in March 1864, and the Frigate Wabash on April 18 of that year. As a result of her actions, several more David class torpedo boats were constructed in 1864-1865.

Some of the David vessels were captured when Charleston fell to the Union in February 1865, along with a considerably larger steamship based on her hull design. It is possible (but not confirmed) the original David was among them

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