On the 7th of April, 1863, Admiral Dupont made his attack on Charleston, with a squadron consisting of the armored frigate _New Ironsides_ and eight "Monitors." Tucker, with his usual good judgment, held the _Chicora_ and _Palmetto State_, aided by a number of rowboats armed with torpedoes, ready to make a desperate and final assault upon the Federal squadron if it should succeed in passing the Confederate forts guarding the entrance to the harbor. Admiral Dupont's squadron was repulsed by the forts, and the Confederate squadron was not engaged. The Confederate naval forces afloat at Charleston did not possess either the strength or swiftness necessary for an attack on the Federal blockading squadron with any reasonable prospect of success, and Tucker therefore turned his attention to attacks by means of torpedo-boats fitted out from his squadron. On the 5th of October, 1863, Lieutenant W.T. Glassell, with a small double-ender steam torpedo-boat, made an attempt to sink the _New Ironsides_, lying off Morris' Island. The _New Ironsides_ was not sunk, but she was seriously damaged and was sent North for repairs. The torpedo-boat was filled with water, and her commander, pilot, and engineer, all that were on board of her, were thrown overboard by the shock of the striking and exploding of the torpedo against the bottom of the iron-clad. The torpedo-boat was finally taken back into Charleston harbor by the pilot and engineer, but Lieutenant Glassell was made prisoner after having been in the water about an hour. A torpedo-boat commanded by Lieutenant Dixon of the Confederate Army, and manned by six volunteers from Tucker's squadron and one from the army, attacked and sunk, on the night of February 17th, 1864, the United States steamer _Housatonic_ lying in the North Channel. The torpedo-boat with all on board went to the bottom, but most of the crew of the _Housatonic_ were saved by taking refuge in the rigging, which was not submerged when the vessel rested on the bottom. The boat attack on Fort Sumter, made by the Federals on September 8th, 1863, was easily repulsed, and the Charleston squadron materially aided in the repulse. A battalion of sailors from the recruits on board the receiving-ship _Indian Chief_, under the command of Lieutenant Commanding William Galliard Dozier, was detached by Tucker to co-operate with the army on James' Island in August, 1864. This battalion rendered good service, and upon its return to the squadron was kept organized and ready to respond whenever a call for assistance was made upon the Navy by the Army. Early in 1864 some changes were made in the commanding officers of the squadron; Commander Isaac Newton Brown was ordered to the _Charleston_, Commander Thomas T. Hunter to the _Chicora_, and Lieutenant Commanding James Henry Rochelle to the _Palmetto State_. No other changes were made in the commands of the squadron while it existed.