CSS Missouri

Watercolor of Missouri
History
Confederate States
Name	Missouri
Namesake	Missouri
Ordered	1 November 1862
Laid down	December 1862
Launched	14 April 1863
Commissioned	19 September 1863
Fate	Surrendered, 3 June 1865 Sold, 29 November 1865
General characteristics
Type	Casemate ironclad
Length	183 ft (55.8 m) (o/a)
Beam	53 ft 8 in (16.4 m)
Draft	8 ft 6 in (2.6 m)
Installed power	4 × return-flue boilers
Propulsion	Stern paddle wheel 2 × steam engines
Speed	10 mph (16 km/h)
Armament	1 × 11 in (281 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren gun 1 × 9 in (229 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren gun 1 × 32 pdr (14.5 kg) smoothbore siege gun
Armor	Casemate: 4.5 in (114 mm) Deck: 4.5 in (114 mm)

CSS^{[Note 1]} Missouri was a casemate ironclad built by the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Her propulsion machinery was taken from an existing steamboat, her armor was railroad T-rails, and she was armed with three captured cannon. She was difficult to steer and leaked badly. Additional equipment had to be added to allow her to reach her intended speed. Completed during 1863 on the Red River, she was trapped in the Shreveport, Louisiana, area by low water and never saw combat. The vessel's crew had desertion issues and some of her crewmen were pulled from the army. After traveling downriver for the first time, the ship was surrendered in June 1865 to the United States Navy—the last Confederate ironclad to be handed over—and sold in November.

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