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AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND STRATEGY AND HOW THEY SHAPED THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE General Studies by WESLEY A. BROWN, LCDR, USN B.A., Baylor University, Waco, Texas, 1983 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 1999 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Name of Candidate: LCDR Wesley A. Brown, USN Thesis Title: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Technology And Strategy And How They Shaped The Confederate States Navy Approved by: _______________________________, Thesis Committee Chairman CDR Robert M. Brown, M.A. _______________________________, Member Ronald E. Cuny, Ph.D. _______________________________, Member LTC David C. Chuber, M.A., M.M.A.S. Accepted this 4th day of June 1999 by: _______________________________, Director, Graduate Degree Programs Philip J. Brookes, Ph.D. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to this study should include the foregoing statement.) ii ABSTRACT AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND STRATEGY AND HOW THEY SHAPED THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY, by LCDR Wesley A. Brown, USN, 171 pages. This study investigates the use of technology by the Confederate States of America to develop naval strategy and ultimately the Navy during the American Civil War. The study concentrates on the building and use of: ironclads to break the blockade and coastal defense, torpedoes (mines) for coastal defense, and Submarines to help break the blockade at Charleston. The use of technology had a significant influence on the Confederate Navy not only on the strategic, but also on the operational and the tactical levels of war. Operational campaigns were planned and executed around the presence or absence of confederate ironclads by both the North and the South. Battles were won, lost, or never fought due to the presence of confederate torpedoes laid in Southern harbors. The threat of Confederate submarines caused Union blockading squadrons to reduce the capabilities of catching runners by moving the fleet out of the submarines tactical range. Today's Navy, in its quest for new technology, faces a similar situation as the Confederate Navy did in 1861. The Navy must seek new technology to enhance warfighting skills and not simply look for the "ultimate weapon," as the Confederate Navy first thought of the ironclad. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page APPROVAL PAGE...........................................................................................................ii ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................................................vi LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................viii CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................1 TWO. BACKGROUND ..........................................................................................8 Events leading to the Civil War Organizing a Nation The Strategy THREE. CONFEDERATE IRONCLADS............................................................26 The Ironclad Strategy The Merrimack Conversion The New Strategy FOUR. CONFEDERATE MINE WARFARE ......................................................69 Improvements in Technology Leaders in Torpedo Warfare Torpedo Fuses Torpedoes FIVE. CONFEDERATE SUBMARINE WARFARE...........................................89 David and Goliath Success with Submarines SIX. CONCLUSIONS .........................................................................................116 ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................................127 TABLES ........................................................................................................................146 GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................................158 iv REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................164 INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST ..................................................................................171 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 1. Pictures of Shells, Bolts, 6.4 and 7-inch Brooke Guns.......................................128 2. CSS Virginia in Drydock....................................................................................129 3. Map of the Battle at Hampton Roads, 8-9 March 1862......................................130 4. Map of the South showing Confederate Naval Yards, Stations, and Facilities..131 5. Naval Facilities in Richmond, Virginia ..............................................................132 6. Naval Iron Works and Navy Yard, Columbus, Georgia.....................................133 7. Picture of the Diamond Hull of a Albemarle Class ironclad ..............................134 8. Picture of Confederate Ironclad Hull Types.......................................................135 9. Naval Facilities, Savannah, Georgia...................................................................136 10. Naval Gun Foundry and Ordnance Works, Selma, Alabama ...........................137 11. Diagram of Confederate Torpedo Organization after October 1862................138 12. Actual Rain's Fuse ...........................................................................................138 13. Example of Typical Fuse Used in an Electrical Torpedo ................................139 14. Example of Chemical Fuse Used an Electrical Torpedo ..................................139 15. Rain's Frame Torpedo.......................................................................................140 16. Keg Torpedo .....................................................................................................140 17. Fretwell-Singer Torpedo...................................................................................141 18. Electrical Torpedoes .........................................................................................141 19. Register of Private Ships Issued Letter of Marques .........................................142 20. The "Rebel Submarine Ram" Pioneer...............................................................143 21. Diagram of the American Diver/Pioneer II ......................................................144 vi 22. Diagram of the H. L. Hunley.............................................................................145 23. The Hunley Transported to Charleston.............................................................145 TABLE 1. Confederate Ironclads .........................................................................................147 2. Ships Sunk or Damaged by Torpedoes During the Civil War............................155 3. Dimensions of Three Confederate Submersible Boats .......................................157 vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it." (Lincoln 1861, 223-224) By the time President Lincoln gave his inaugural address in March 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union and appointed Jefferson Davis as the first President of the Confederate States of America. Within months, six more states would join the Confederacy. Davis, knowing the Union would not allow the "rebels" to break from the Union peacefully had to band these southern states together and form a military to fight for their way of life (Coski 1996, 3). One of the many problems facing the newly formed confederacy was to attempt to do something never tried by a nation before. To build a navy while at war with an enemy that already had one of the largest navies in the world (Luraghi 1996, 15). The Confederacy had a unique situation that enabled them to build a navy directly in concert with the development of the naval strategy used to defeat their enemy. This could be accomplished in one of two ways. First, they could allow the current available ships, weapons, and tactics to dictate the strategy. Second, they could develop the strategy and let it dictate the type of navy to build. In view of the shortfalls facing the Confederacy, especially in their economy and available resources, the South decided to develop a strategy that would best counter the Union's navy, then build a navy accordingly. While developing its strategy, the South realized whatever type of navy it built, it would be smaller than that of its foes. Therefore, the Confederates looked to technology to counter the numerical advantage of the Union's navy. Specifically, they wanted a highly maneuverable steam cruiser for commerce raiding, armored ships for blockade running, rifled guns for more accurate and lethal fires, and submarine weaponry for harbor defense. This thesis analyzes