Published Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:15 AM
Updated Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:16 AM
Charleston Base members (l-r) Jerry Farr, Marty Sessler, Rick Wise, Bill Freligh and Carl Chinn.
CSS David receives facelift
United States Submarine Veterans and Charleston Base members recently spent two days maintaining the replica of the CSS Little David located at the Berkeley Museum in Moncks Corner.
Maintenance, conducted twice a year, consists of pressure washing, scraping, sanding, priming, and repainting. Little David coordinator Rick Wise: “We want to keep her ship shape for all of the visitors to the museum. She is an important piece of the puzzle of our submarine heritage.”
The replica was built in the 1970’s by Trident Technical College students. It was refurbished by members of SubVets Charleston in 2003, taking six months and thousands of man-hours. Upon completion, the Little David was moved to its present location at the museum.
CSS David, a 50-foot steam torpedo boat of “cigar-Shaped” hull design, was privately built at Charleston in 1863 under the supervision of David C. Ebaugh. After being taken over by the Confederate States Navy, she made a daring spar torpedo attack on the Federal ironclad New Ironsides on the night of Oct. 5, 1863.
The Union ship was damaged, though able to remain on station, and David was nearly lost when the splash from her torpedo’s explosion swamped her power plant. However, her engineer was able to get her underway, allowing her to escape back to Charleston.
During 1864, David made several additional attacks notably on the Federal gunboat Memphis and the frigate Wabash.
Although unsuccessful, as a result of her actions, several similar torpedo boats were begun at Charleston in 1864-1865. Some “David” type crafts were captured when the city fell to Union forces in February 1865; it is possible that the original David was among them.
United States Submarine Veterans Inc. Charleston Base is an organization of active, veteran, and retired sailors all qualified in Submarines.
Charleston Base member meet every second Thursday of the month at the Fleet Reserve Association’s Home at 99 Wisteria Road in Goose Creek. Social hour starts at 6 p.m. with a meeting a 7 p.m. For more information on the Charleston Base, visit www.ussvicb.org.