on 18 March 1863. About this time, Rear Admiral Samuel Francis du Pont, who had become interested in the submarine while in command of the Philadelphia Navy Yard early in the war, decided that Alligator might be useful in carrying out his plans to take Charleston, South Carolina, the birthplace of secession. Acting Master John F. Winchester, who then commanded , was ordered to tow the submarine to Port Royal, South Carolina. The pair got underway on 31 March. The next day, both encountered bad weather which, on 2 April, forced Sumpter to cut Alligator adrift off Cape Hatteras. She either immediately sank or drifted for a while before sinking, ending the career of the United States Navy's first submarine. See also French weapons in the American Civil War References Veit, Chuck, "The Innovative, Mysterious Alligator" - Naval History magazine (August 2010), pp. 26–29 Attribution External links navsource.org: USS Alligator NPR story on the hunt for the USS Alligator NOAA search for the Alligator Navy & Marine LHA history site on Alligator Full Story of the Appomattox River Raid UNDERSEA WARFARE Magazine article on Alligator Comprehensive site on world submarine history Ships built by Neafie and Levy Submarines of the United States Navy Alligator 19th-century submarines of the United States Lost submarines of the United States United States submarine accidents 1862 ships Maritime incidents in April 1863 Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Hand-cranked submarines