Notable Point · 29:04-29:50

CSS David’s later attacks and uncertain fate

David returned to service after attacking New Ironsides, but the torpedo boat’s ultimate fate remained uncertain and attracted postwar legend.

Notes

CSS David was repaired and later attacked USS Memphis and USS Wabash without a decisive result. Several boats of the type were captured at the end of the Civil War, but the record does not establish whether David was among them. Later stories claimed that the craft had been hidden as a memorial or held for a future Southern uprising. Those stories are treated skeptically, since the boat's uncertain fate leaves more room for legend than evidence.