"...the II Atlantic Squadron was led by the dreadnought CSS Alabama as well as the CSS Texas, an old pre-dreadnought battleship nicknamed "Old Hoodoo" for its curious cases of strange, often poor luck, supported by three of the Confederacy's thirteen armored cruisers - Richmond, New Orleans, and Pensacola, the lead vessel of its newest class - the aging protected cruisers Knoxville and Macon, four destroyers and five surface torpedo boats. In addition, two experimental submarines were dispatched as part of the escort; the Confederacy had a rudimentary submarine warfare doctrine and only six of the vessels in total, but Baltimore Harbor was expected to be an outstanding proving ground for these vessels. Separate from the II Squadron, two old, unprotected cruisers from the 1890s long earmarked to be scrapped or mothballed were sent out ahead of the escort crew by their skeleton crews and followed by a small unarmed vessel to the east, bearing for the mouth of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. The operation they were meant for was carried out soon after the assault on Baltimore began - the two old cruisers were maneuvered into the mouth of the canal, turned so as to block its passage, and then scuttled. The crews were picked up by the unarmed surface ship and steamed back to Pocomoke Sound immediately.
The attack on Baltimore Harbor commenced at approximately 8:07 AM on September 9th, 1913. Baltimore was the sixth-largest city in the United States and was, after New York and Philadelphia, the East Coast's third-busiest port. Lying at the point where the Patapsco entered the Chesapeake and not far south of the mouth of the Susquehanna into the same bay, it was at the head of an outstanding natural harbor with an outer and inner segment delineated by various headlands. Even before tensions with the Confederacy had risen, its defenses had been a key concern for US military planners; Fort McHenry on Locust Point in the Inner Harbor adjacent to the main port had been made famous in the War of 1812, but it had been supplemented and rendered nearly obsolete by a network of defenses guarding the Outer Harbor. Furthest out sat Fort Howard on the north of the Patapsco and Fort Smallwood on the south; two miles further in was Fort Armistead on a promontory on the south, and the small pillbox fortification of Fort Carroll with its three barbette guns smack dab in the center of the river on an artificial island. Together, these four forts were designed to prevent a hostile attack on the harbor itself, and they were well-armed and properly staffed by the US Army Harbor Defense Command on the morning of the attack. In the port itself, at anchor, was the Third Division of the Atlantic Fleet under Admiral Frank Fletcher; the Third Division contained the dreadnought battleship Rhode Island (BB-13) as well as the pre-dreadnoughts Minnesota (BB-7) and Kansas (BB-10), and the armored cruisers Seattle (ACR-10, the lead ship of its class, the last separate armored cruiser class of the US Navy before it was combined with the "heavy cruiser" designation in 1914), Brooklyn (ACR-3), and the protected cruisers St. Louis (C-20) and Springfield (C-22), along with two destroyers and two torpedo boats.
The improvements meant to defend against dreadnought big guns had not yet been made to the coastal defenses of Baltimore Harbor, and the Alabama quickly pounded Fort Howard on the north bank into submission as the three armored cruisers passed behind it to open fire upon Fort Carroll. The Texas sustained two direct hits that nearly crippled the boat from Fort Armistead but was able to suppress its fire long enough for Fort Carroll's guns to be pounded into oblivion during the exchange of fire, opening up an avenue into the harbor. The key to the battle, of course, was the use of torpedo boats and submarines to pass behind the larger vessels into the Inner Harbor itself to wreak havoc, which they did with gusto; as the Third Division scrambled to deploy out of its docks (it had been put on alert but not been put to sea yet; Navy plans had called for dispatching it towards Norfolk on the 11th as Congress debated a declaration of war), torpedoes hummed through the water, striking vessels below the waterline. The Seattle's fuel quarters and magazine were struck dead-on, detonating the ship in a massive fireball at its quay and severely damaging other harbor facilities; two other magazines and coal depots were struck by strafing fire from the Alabama with its long range guns, causing a massive fire to break out in the port. The St. Louis was hit by two torpedoes to its port and it listed, forcing its abandonment; the Springfield was hit square-on by a shell that punctured its armor and it sank after pulling out of dock.
The three battleships had sufficient firepower to ward off the Confederate vessels and indeed sank two torpedo boats, but suffered critical damage nonetheless. The new Rhode Island took a critical strike to its propellers and rudder, rendering it inoperable; the Kansas had one of its big guns blasted clean off the deck and a hole punched through its armor just above the waterline. Only the Minnesota escaped relatively unscathed, fighting its way past the enemy and out of the harbor to relative safety, only to discover that its escape route to the Delaware River had been closed off. It was instead sailed into the mouth of the Susquehanna, where it would lie in wait as a floating artillery barge.
In all, the Battle of Baltimore Harbor lasted approximately four hours and was a staggering, decisive defeat for the United States. Three cruisers had been sunk and another captured; two battleships, including a prized dreadnought, had been rendered inoperable at dock. The port facilities at Baltimore were destroyed, massive amounts of damage had been done to the city itself, and three of its harbor fortifications had been devastated. Not only that, but news throughout the day suggested massive Confederate advances in western Maryland, and news of a similarly lethal bombardment of Washington reached the city as the Confederate squadron - which lost only one destroyer and two torpedo boats in the whole ordeal, though Texas was returned to Norfolk for repairs - rained hellfire upon a city of over half a million souls. Pandemonium broke out in the streets; in addition to the one thousand US sailors killed in the attack, nearly three hundred civilians lost their lives on September 9th, close to a third of them from the chaotic stampede to flee the southern part of the city that broke out..."
- Hell at Sea: The Naval Campaigns of the Great American War
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