in the early morning fog of the last day of january, the confederate ironclads and steamed out of charleston and attacked the union blockading fleet. "palmetto state" rammed and fired into , reducing that federal screw gunboat to "... a sinking and perfectly defenseless condition." meanwhile, "chicora" engaged . one round burst the northern side-wheeler's boiler, releasing scalding steam which killed one officer and 19 men and disabled another score of bluejackets.