82 - HE EXPECTED TO SACRIFICE HIMSELF... | Lt. William Cushing (US Navy) | Civil War

The Albemarle was a beast.

 

Protected by four-inch iron plating and sloped armor designed to deflect cannon fire, she seemed invincible.

 

Union shells bounced harmlessly off like pebbles. Destroying this ironclad was vital.

 

Traditional attacks had failed. So, Lt. Cushing proposed something bolder...

 

Under cover of darkness, he would sneak up to the vessel and blow a hole in her hull using the newly invented hand-guided spar torpedo.

 

A spar torpedo was an explosive charge attached to the end of a long pole. To use it, the attacker had to ram the explosive directly against the enemy ship and then detonate it.

 

Everyone understood what that meant. This was essentially a suicide mission.

 

Musket fire exploded from the darkness. The night erupted into chaos.

 

Bullets tore through the air, splintering wood and slamming into the small Union launch as it sped towards the moored Confederate ironclad warship.

 

But Lt. Cushing never flinched though bullets flew all around him and his men.

 

“Full speed ahead!” He shouted.

 

I’m Rick Robison and this is the FORGOTTEN PATRIOTS Podcast.

 

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OTHER EPISODES YOU MAY LIKE:

 

78 - SAVING THE UNION AT GETTYSBURG | Gen. John Buford (Army) | Civil War

49 - THE SPY CONFEDERATES NEVER SUSPECTED… | Elizabeth “Crazy Bet” Van Lew (Union Spy) | Civil War

03 - "THEY MAY HAVE GOTTEN ME... BUT I GOT MY BOYS HOME!" | Lt. Robert Femoyer (Army Air Corps Navigator) | WWII

 

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Civil War / US Navy / Ironclads / Commando Mission / The Union / The Confederacy / Abraham Lincoln