Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 21, 2012



USS New Ironsides was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. The ship was commissioned midway through the war on 21 August 1862. She spent most of her career blockading the Confederate ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1863–65, and bombarded the fortifications defending Charleston during the First and Second Battles of Charleston Harbor. At the end of 1864 and the beginning of 1865 New Ironsides bombarded the defenses of Wilmington in the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher. Although she was struck many times by Confederate shells, gunfire never significantly damaged the ship or injured the crew. Her only casualty in combat occurred when she was struck by a spar torpedo carried by the Confederate torpedo boat CSS David. Eight crewmen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865. The ship was placed in reserve after the war but was destroyed by fire in 1866. (more...)

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