Sassacus took Louisiana into tow and pulled her to Beaufort, North Carolina where she took on additional explosives. Sassacus, accompanied by Admiral David Dixon Porter's fleet, then got underway and towed the fully loaded Louisiana to the mouth of the Cape Fear, arriving off Fort Fisher on 18 December. There, for five days, bad weather prevented from towing the giant bomb into position for detonation. Finally, on the night of 23 – 24 December, Wilderness managed to get Louisiana within 200 to 300 yards of the shore. At 1:18 am, a great blast shook and lighted the area for many miles, but left Fort Fisher undamaged. The task of leveling the Confederate works was left to naval gunfire, and Sassacus readily joined in the bombardment which began at daylight on Christmas Eve and was maintained throughout the day. That night, the wooden ships withdrew to anchor in deeper waters, and Porter's ironclads continued harassing fire during the darkness. On Christmas morning, the wooden ships reformed their battle line and opened fire at 10:30. In the afternoon, troops landed; but, after receiving a pessimistic report on a reconnaissance of the fortress, General Butler ordered his troops to reembark on their transports. During the next two days, while laboring to return the last of the troops to ships, Sassacuss launch and second cutter were both damaged in the heavy surf, abandoned on the beach under orders from Brigadier General Newton Martin Curtis, and later destroyed. Disappointed by Butler's indecisive leadership, Admiral Porter managed to get General Grant to commit the Army to a prompt return to Fort Fisher. The new task force, containing a reinforced Army contingent commanded by Major General Alfred Terry, arrived at Beaufort on 8 January 1865 but was held up there by bad weather. The ships got underway again on 12 January. The next day, Sassacus joined in the pre-invasion bombardment, and then, as her boats were landing troops, shelled the woods ahead of the Union skirmish line. On 14 January, she continued the barrage while her boats and working parties landed artillery and provisions for the Army and also helped to replenish the monitors' magazines. On 15 January, the ship landed a party of 37 volunteers from her crew to join a naval assault force. Although Confederate defenders repulsed the ensuing spirited attack by sailors and marines storming Fort Fisher's seaward wall, in doing so, they neglected