Naval Operations During The Civil War Essay

, Research Paper

.NAVAL OPERATIONS DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, there was little reason to suspect that the United States Navy would play a very big role in the war. The Confederate Navy had absolutely no navy, nor did they have the ability to create one. The south did not contain a single plant that could create a marine engine. (Carrison, page #17) The government of the Confederate States got underway in the spring of 1861, totally unprepared from a naval standpoint to uphold the independence it had declared. (Confederate Forces Afloat, page #1)

The Confederacy lacked the adequate means to conduct an offensive of defensive war. (http://sunsite.unc.edu/ page 1a) They needed ships to defend its long coastline and inland waterways, to carry war to its northern shores, or to conduct the foreign trade, vital to its existence. To this bleak outlook was added but limited hope to acquiring or constructing a navy. Nevertheless, inspired determination and ingenuity evinced particularly by the more than 300 able officers who resigned from the United States Navy to support the southern cause. These men culminated in the rapid appearance of many varied types of forces afloat under the Confederate flag. (http://sunsite.unc.edu/ page 2a)

The States Navy provided the foundation for the events to follow. The seceding states confiscated small United States ships, such as revenue cutters, coast survey ships, and lighthouse tenders. They also purchased others from northern owners as well as southern owners. They quickly started building additional vessels better suited for warfare. (http://sunsite.unc.edu page #2a) Also, the states that seceded automatically took with them the naval forces they had already accumulated. As the war went on, the confederacy created a better defense for their major ports, inland waterways, and the south.s vast coastline. The better defense included the ironclads and the submarines. (Reader.s Digest, page #144)

Lincoln and his Secretary of Navy, Gideon Welles, resolved early to weaken the south by blockading its major ports. The union, however, did not have the size to pull off an operation of this magnitude. Many months passed before the United States Navy was large enough to enforce this blockade. (Nevins, page #410) As the war waged on the union forces pecked away at southern Confederate ports. Through this campaign the Federal forces took many key places such as Fort Hatteras, N.C. and Port Royal, S.C. Over the next year New Orleans, Roanoke Island, New Bern, N.C., Fort Mason, N.C., Fort Pulaski, GA, and Pensacola, FL all fell into the hands of the Union. The Confederates rallied briefly in 1863 and managed t hold their remaining coastal works, notably Charleston, S.C. The Confederate Navy could never match the growth of the United States navy. (http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/histo.military/)

Northern fleets continued to apply pressure to the southern shores. Two engagements marked the effectiveness of the coastal attacks. On August 15, 1864 Admiral David Farragut led a squadron into a mine-infested Mobile Bay with the battle cry: .Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!. Five months later, on January 15,1865, Federal forces stormed and captured Fort Fisher, N.C., the last great southern defense on the Atlantic Coast. (http://sunsite.unc.edu/war/)

The Southern States being born without a navy and never able to develop a fleet that could compete with the growing navy of the United States had a hard time defeating the United States at sea. Their lack of funds and ship building materials were no help either. The union effectively blocked the building of Confederate Warships in Great Britain through their diplomacy. The Confederates, with odds against them, never stopped trying. Eventhough their naval efforts were constricted for the most part to operations by privateers, blockade runners, and undertakings by individual ship owners. (Boatner page #126)

Most of twenty Confederate raiders that were commissioned achieved considerable fame before they were destroyed. For example, the C.S.S. Florida, under Captain John Newland Maffit, captured thirty-four34 ships before she herself was seized in Brazil in 1864. The English-built Alabama, commanded by Ralph Semmes, took sixty-two prizes in two years on the high seas. On June19, 1864, was sunk off the coast of France in a historic battle with the U.S.S. Kearsage. (Boatner page #127)

The Confederates made several notable innovations during the naval warfare. One was an Ironclad Ram, named the Arkansas, and hastily built in the summer of 1862 to combat Federal ships on the Mississippi River. The Arkansas was constructed of wood, railroad rails, wire, and pieces of iron collected from all over the south. The monster-like vessel created momentary havoc among the Federal gunboats. However, its captain was forced to scuttle the ship near

Baton Rouge Louisiana after its engine failed. (Http://www.wtj.com/)

The Confederacy also boasted the first submarine of modern design. The thirty-five foot H.L. Hunley sank four times with its crews during trial runs. Nevertheless, on the night of Feburay 17, 1864, the little vessel torpedoed and sank the U.S.S. Housatonic in Charleston Harbor. The Hunley and its fifth crew of seven perished in the explosion. In addition to the submarine the, Confederates also devel