Five days after the order, Cushing arrived at Lee’s flagship, the USS Minnesota, and was briefed about the proposed mission. Lee’s plan called for a torpedo [mine] attack to be made using either an India-rubber boat carried through the swamp and launched near the ram’s berth at Plymouth or a “light draft, rifle-proof, swift steam barge, fitted with a torpedo.” Lee requested that Cushing write down his “mature views” on it and present them within two days.

“I heard a report as of an unshotted gun, and a piece of wood fell at my feet. Calling the carpenter, I told him a torpedo had been exploded, and ordered him to examine and report to me. … He soon reported ‘a hole in her bottom big enough to drive a wagon in.’”

Cushing did not disappoint. In his letter, he stated that the destruction of the Albemarle was possible. His knowledge of Albemarle Sound and the Roanoke River qualified him for the attempt. He said he would need 80 men and was willing to lead either expedition.

After getting formal approval for the raid from the Navy Department in July, Cushing traveled to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to select his boats. Unable to find suitable India-rubber boats, he chose two “open launches about thirty feet in length with small engines and propelled by a screw.” Cushing also tested the complex torpedo device, composed of a waterproof explosive charge attached to a long mechanized boom and control ropes, and ignited by a delicate trigger device attached to a lanyard. Of this contraption, Cushing would later write that it “had many defects and I would not again attempt its use.”

The two ships were ordered to North Carolina, but only one arrived. The other was destroyed in a storm. When Cushing arrived in North Carolina, he discovered that Lee had been re-assigned and that Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter was now the commander. Porter was no fan of Cushing’s, believing him to be a daredevil possessing more luck than skill. Even so, Porter ordered that Cushing be given all possible assistance on the mission, even though he had “no great confidence in [Cushing’s] success.”

To volunteers assembled before him, Cushing briefly explained the purpose of his mission. He concluded by saying, “Not only must you not expect, but you must not hope to return. I can promise you nothing but glory, death or, possibly, promotion. We will have the satisfaction of getting in a good lick at the rebels.”