The Brooke Rifles of CSS Tennessee

Aug 28

A 7-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifle (nearest the camera) and three 6.4-Inch Double Banded Brooke Rifles on display as trophies at the Washington Navy Yard

Four of the six Brooke Rifles which armed CSS Tennessee are displayed at the Washington Navy Yard. The 7-Inch and three 6.4-Inch Double Banded Brookes are displayed in a park immediately adjacent to the current building of the National Museum of the United States Navy. (CSS Tennessee’s other two Brookes are also preserved: A 7-Inch Brooke Rifle is on loan from the US Navy to Selma, Alabama where the two 7-Inch Brookes were manufactured. A 6.4-Inch Brooke from CSS Tennessee - along with a similar Brooke from CSS Albemarle - is outside the Headquarters of the United States Fleet Forces Command at Norfolk.)

CSS Tennessee, which was built at Selma from 1862-1864 before being towed to Mobile for fitting out. She was Admiral Buchanan’s flagship at the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5th, 1864. According to R. Thomas Campbell’s Confederate Ironclads at War, CSS Tennessee’s Brookes suffered from unreliable primers and failed to fire on several occasions during the battle. Though CSS Tennessee’s armor resisted the shot fired by the 9-Inch and 11-Inch Dahlgren’s of the US fleet, the 15-Inch Dahlgrens of USS Manhattan were able to crack the casemate of Tennessee and force the surrender of that ship.

Shortly after her capture, Tennessee was taken into US Navy service as USS Tennessee. USS Tennessee participated in the successful attack on Fort Morgan on August 23rd, 1864. While USS Atlanta carried Parrott Rifles in service (which replaced the Brooke Rifles carried when Atlanta sailed under Confederate colors), I would be interested to know whether or not Tennessee’s Brookes were replaced by the US Navy before she opened fire on Fort Morgan. If they were not replaced, Tennessee’s Brookes may be the only Brooke Rifles to see active service in the US Navy. (The entry for USS Tennessee in the official records - photo of the page below - does not list a change to the battery other than adding a 12 Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer.)

The 7-Inch Brooke Rifle at the Washington Navy Yard was cast at Selma in 1864. Its registry number is S-10. (The Tennessee Brooke now at Selma is S-5.) Tennessee’s four 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifles were all manufactured at Tredegar in 1863. They are recorded as weighing between 10,550 pounds and 10,790 pounds.

These four Double Banded Brooke Rifles are interesting to compare to the 1862-manufactured Single Banded Brooke Rifles of CSS Atlanta which can be seen just across the street. Though the first Brookes were single banded, double banding seems to have become the standard by 1863 as Tredegar and Selma sought greater reliability from these cast iron rifles. It is also interesting to compare the 7-Inch Brooke Rifle of CSS Tennessee with the 10-Inch Brooke Smoothbore of CSS Columbia which is just on the other side of the walking path.