George,

I don't believe it was intended for the Chattahoochee to function as a cruiser. She was designed to defend Apalachicola Bay and River. Armed with six pieces of heavy artillery, she was a formidable vessel for that duty.

Basically, if the CSN had been allowed to follow through with plans, she would have gone down and engaged the motley blockade vessels in Apalachicola Bay and opened the port (at least until larger ships could be sent there by the Union navy).

I don't believe there was ever any plan, though, to run her out to sea beyond that limited mission. Several other vessels of the "Chattahoochee class" were also constructed during the war, and they performed similar duties.

It is interesting to speculate over what might have happened had she been allowed to go into the bay. At one point late in the war the Union blockade vessels were in such bad shape that some of their engines weren't even functioning at all.

Dale