How thick was the armor of CSS Albemarle and Neuse?

Answer 1

CSS Albemarle: According to her builder Gilbert Elliott, in his article on Albemarle that appeared in 1888 ("Century Magazine, The Illustrated Monthly"), she had a 1st course of 4-inch wide x 16 inch thick, vertically-laid yellow pine planking. Over that was laid 2 courses 7-inch wide x 2-inch thick of iron plate. The 2nd course was horizontallylaid, while the 3rd, outer course was vertically laid and bolted through the 16-inches of yellow pine. Total: 20 inches of armor. There is conflicting evidence about whether her fore and aft main decks were armored with iron plate, as Gilbert doesn't elaborate in his article. He does elaborate on the extreme difficulty of obtaining enough iron armor and of drilling the necessary holes for attaching that armor to the yellow pine. CSS Neuse and Albemarle were sister ironclads and built to the same plans and specifications, except for 4 additional gun ports added for Neuse's rifled pivot cannons. Her precise armor specifications will be added as soon as reliable historic sources can be found.