CSS Tennessee was a casemate ironclad ram built for the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War.

Tennessee was laid down in October 1862, hull and other woodwork turned out by Henry D. Bassett, who launched her the following February, ready for towing to Mobile to be engined and armed.

The vicissitudes implicit in creating such an ironclad are graphically conveyed by Admiral Franklin Buchanan, writing September 20, 1863 to Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory: The work on the Tennessee has progressed for some weeks past, under Mr. Pierce, as fast as the means in his power would permit.

I visited the Nashville and Tennessee frequently and, to secure and control the services of the mechanics, I have had them all conscripted and detailed to work under my orders.

Unable to ram the Union ships because of their superior speed, Tennessee delivered a vigorous fire on the Federals at close range.

Buchanan might have held Tennessee under the fort's protection but steamed after the Federal fleet and engaged despite overwhelming odds.

Tennessee was rammed by several ships, and her vulnerable steering chains (which, oddly, lay in exposed trenches on the after deck) were carried away by the heavy gunfire.