He was born on September 19, 1813 in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, the youngest in a family of five sons and two daughters. His mother was Frances (Pritchard) Porter. His father, Joseph Porter, was of English ancestry, the son of William Porter, a captain in the Continental Army.
After securing an education in Portsmouth private schools, he learned shipbuilding at his father's shipyard.
After marriage he began to construct naval vessels, designing and building the steamtug, Water Witch, in Washington, 1843-1844, and superintending as acting constructor the building of the Alleghany at Pittsburgh, 1846-1847. He conceived at this time his idea of an ironclad warship, drew plans and forwarded them to the Navy Department, but received no favorable results.
Returning home, he became the first president of the Portsmouth Common Council in 1852. He superintended, at Pensacola, the construction of the naval steam sloops, Seminole and Pensacola, launched in June and August 1859.
Commissioned naval constructor on October 1, 1859, he was attached to the Pensacola navy yard where he remained until it was captured early in 1861. He was then stationed at the Washington navy yard until ordered to Norfolk on April 17, 1861. A few days later, when Virginia seceded, that navy yard was captured, and Porter resigned his commission to enter the service of Virginia. Later he served the Confederacy as naval constructor, though he was not commissioned until June 1862.
In June 1861, the secretary of the Confederate navy, Stephen Russell Mallory, ordered Porter and Chief Engineer William P. Williamson to Richmond to consult with Lieutenant John Mercer Brooke concerning the construction of an ironclad. The committee recommended a reconstruction of the U. S. S. Merrimac, which had been scuttled and partially burned at Norfolk, by placing an iron shield on all her decks except the ends, thus combining the ideas of Brooke and Porter. In accordance with the recommendation of the committee Porter submitted drawings, and on July 11, 1861, Mallory issued orders for reconstructing the Merrimac, renamed C. S. S. Virginia. Williamson was to recondition the engines, Brooke to prepare the iron-plating and guns, and Porter to remodel the hull and construct the shield.
It is still a debatable question as to which of the two men deserves the more credit for initiating the plan of the ironclad, but certainly Porter had most to do with the actual construction and equipping of the Virginia. Porter remained at Norfolk until the Confederates evacuated it and then he went to Richmond as Chief Constructor of the Navy. With great energy he produced drawings and specifications for ironclad steam sloops and rams, among them being the Albemarle, Mississippi, Virginia II, Richmond, Palmetto State, Chicora, North Carolina, Raleigh, Charleston, Columbia, and Savannah. He also designed for Mallory a 2, 300-ton, sea-going ironclad, with iron casemate amidships and an ingenious arrangement of gun ports, to be built abroad.
He made tours of inspection to supervise construction work, reporting March 3, 1863, "23 gunboats, 20 ironclads, and 3 wooden boats" under construction. A lack of iron for armor and inadequate engines was his chief obstacle. Anticipating this need early in June 1861, he urged Mallory to import immediately steam engines and iron. On November 1, 1864, he regretfully reported that twelve vessels had been completed except for iron armor, of which 4, 230 tons were needed.
After the war, Porter became manager of the naval department of the Atlantic Works in Norfolk, was later associated with the Baker Shipyards in Berkley, Virginia, and finally was superintendent of the Norfolk and Portsmouth ferries. He died in Portsmouth.
In 1834 he married Susan Buxton. He had six children.
