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Civil War Navy

Civil War Navy

THE CIVIL WAR ON THE WATER

BY SEQUOIA BELLANCA BACKGROUND INFORMATION

OVERVIEW OF THE WAR ON THE WATER BACKGROUND INFORMATION SHIPS

Sloop-of-war Riverboats and Ferries

Schooners “” ironclads BACKGROUND INFORMATION SHIPS

Double Enders Submarines

Steam Frigates Air Craft Carriers BACKGROUND INFORMATION CIVIL WAR NAVAL ACTIONS

• The Battle of Port Royal- November 7, 1861 • The Battles of Forts Henry and Donelson- February 6-16, 1862 • he Battle of - March 8-9, 1862 • The Battle of Island No. 10- February 28-April 8, 1862 • The - May 1, 1862 • The Battle of Drewry's Bluff- May 15, 1862 • The Battle of Fort Hindman/Arkansas Post- January 9-11, 1863 • The - December 1862-July 4, 1863 • The Siege of Charleston Harbor- July 19, 1863-September 7, 1863 • The Second Battle of Sabine Pass- September 8, 1863 • The H.L Hunley Sinks the USS Housatonic- February 17, 1864 • The Battle of Plymouth- April 17-20, 1864 • CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge- June 19, 1864 • The Battle of Mobile Bay- August 5, 1864 • The Bahia Incident- October 7, 1864 • The Second Battle of Fort Fisher- January 13-15, 1865 • The Battle of Trent's Reach- January 23-25, 1865 • The Surrender of the CSS Shenandoah- November 6, 1865 • The Battle of Memphis- June 6, 1862 BACKGROUND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

• STEAM: • -introduction of steam power • -Steam engines had existed before the nineteenth century, but Robert Fulton built the first steam-powered warship in 1815 for the US Navy • -better than sailing ships because there movement didn't have to rely on the wind for power and direction • -they were able to return upriver after transporting their goods then be able to continue on the journey with weak winds • -by 1850s, all new warships built by the navy were steam powered • - even though they didn't rely highly on the winds, they didn't move much faster and many ships had to use sails to preserve fuel on long trips • -looked like sailing ships, except for the smokestack coming from the deck • -served as blockade runners, transports, and cruisers

• IMPROVED ARTILLERY: • -huge military developments lead to further change to the warships • -in 1850s there were many alterations in the construction of cannons and allowed the military to build bigger, more accurate, and longer-ranged guns. • -John Dahlgren: a naval officer who developed a technique for reinforcing the breach of a cannon to better withstand the extra gunpowder needed to fire larger shells at greater distances • -both navies used the smoothbore cannon, but the rifled cannon became more common in the 1850-60s • -had grooves on the inside of the barrel to impart a spin on the projectile • -Several types of cannon shots existed in the centuries before the Civil War, but virtually all of them were designed to cripple a ship or kill her crew • -explosive shells became widespread • -had a timed defuse inside the shell that would detonate after hitting the ship and create a huge hole that would sink the ship

BACKGROUND INFORMATION CIVIL WAR NAVAL ACTIONS

• IRONCLADS: • -developments in artillery lead to more alterations • -realized that wooden ships were vulnerable to destruction, explosive fire • -naval architects started to improve ships' defense by plating them with iron or steel • -because of the casing, shells would bounce off the side of the ship and this would allow the ship to take repeated hits • -ironclads were very heavy, so powerful steam engines took the place of sails, which were weaker and vulnerable to enemy fire • -first ironclads were built in Europe but neither navy had one in the beginning of the war • -both the North and the South started to build or convert ironclads from ships of various shapes and • -some ironclads were simply normal steam ships covered with metal plates (called casemate ironclads) • -the union built lots of "" class gunboats. these sat low in the water and utilized a revolving armored . • -ironclads were able to better protect themselves from enemy fire • -groups of ironclads were able to rush past forts to enter harbors, or even – on several occasions – defeat forts in artillery duels

• TORPEDOS: • -the South had to find ways to protect themselves from the Union, and because they had a shortage of iron supply and weren't able to make powerful steam engines they had to find alternatives • -they decided that they would deploy torpedoes from underneath the water, so that the could destroy ironclads • -Confederacy designed the first “torpedo boats.” These carried mines on long spars in front of the ship. • -the boats were designed to be low in the water, and hard to spot so that they could avoid cannon fire • -these boats were quickly adopted by the Union BACKGROUND INFORMATION CIVIL WAR NAVAL ACTIONS

• Submarines: • -the first submarine to destroy an enemy ship was the H. L. Hunley. It sunk the USS Housatonic IN February of 1864 near Charleston • -there was no other submarine that was able to achieve notable success during the rest of the war • The design for the submarines were taken from the concept of low-profile torpedo boats

• Notable Developments: • USS Monitor was the first warship to use a revolving gun turret in combat • The Navy used air craft carriers to launch observation balloons BACKGROUND INFORMATION LIFE AS A SAILOR

Requirements: Age: 18/21(with parent consent) If you were thirteen or younger, you could not enlist in the North and if you were fourteen or younger, you could not enlist in the South. Height: 5’8/4’8 Experience: If you were over the age of 33 and had no experience, you could not enlist, unless you had a trade. If he did have a trade, 38 was the limit. An inexperienced man between the ages of 25 and 35 could join in the South if he had a trade. Inexperienced men that didn’t have a trade were shipped away to be landsmen or coal heavers. *Payment: Landsmen and inexperienced hands: $12/mth Ordinary Seamen: $14/mth Seamen: $18/mth Third class: $7/mth Second Class: $8/mth African Americans: In order to fight in the First Class: $9/mth Confederate Navy, they needed special According to their knowledge or physical permission from either the Navy Department or abilities, boys were rated as third, second, or the local squadron commander. Slaves needed first class in ascending order. consent from their owners in order to enlist. The had a high number of African North / South Americans in there lower ranks because they *Payment was the same for both the North and offered them recruiting stations South

GROWTH OF THE NAVY DURING THE WAR GROWING NAVIES IN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH

• Growth in the North • Growth in the South • In the beginning, the North had less then 40 • Compared to the Northern Navy, the South usable ships had very few resources • Union was in need of a “brown water navy” • They had a handful of shipyards, a small • These were gunboats that would support merchant marine, and had no Navy. campaigns in Northern and the • The Confederates needed a Navy in order to break the and to protect it’s port cities. • , Lincoln’s Naval Secretary, created a task that would make every • , the Confederate Secretary of Southern inlet, port, and bay extremely the Navy, frantically looked for new ships and dangerous fro trade and created a task to attack Union merchant ships on the seas • North began to build dozens of new warships and purchased hundreds of merchant ships • Confederate Navy decided to challenge the that they converted into blockaders by adding Navy by introducing ironclads to their navy guns, for their navy. • Southern shipyards began making ironclads as • Union navy only had wooden ships, and they fast as they could upgraded to ironclads shortly after the • After South Caroline seceded, the newly Confederates did graduated class of from the Naval Academy in • The Union wooden Navy became obsolete Annapolis, Maryland was called into action to because of the South's ironclads fill the vacancies • Northern shipyards began making ironclads as • In the beginning of the war, the Confederates fast as they could only had two navy shipyards, Norfolk and Pensacola • In order to support Ulysses S. Grants army, the Union had to build a fleet of gunboats • They converted commercial ships into ships fitted for war bu outfitting them with guns

GROWING NAVIES IN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH

• In the federal navy, there was only • The Confederates captured a few 1,457 officers and 7,600 seamen in Union ships and added them to the beginning of the war. By the their own navy end, it increased to 7,500 officers • A Confederate representative and 51,500 seamen. sailed to Britain, asking for help in • In January of 1862, the Union had building ship in order to defeat the 212 seaworthy vessels by repairing Union available ships, building new ones, • This would violate Britain's and adapting commercial vessels. neutrality • The Confederate representative had the ships built in his name as merchant vessels • As soon as they left British water, they outfitted the vessels for war HOW THE NORTH STRATEGICALLY UTILIZED THE NAVY UTILIZING THE NAVY

• The Union (North) strategically utilized the navy when President Lincoln set the first naval goal: A blockade of the Southern Coasts • The proclamation was made April 19, 1861 for a blockade stretching from to Texas • On April 27th, the blockade was extended in order to block North Carolina and Virginia • The plan was to cut off Southern trade with the outside world, and to prevent the sale of cotton, the Confederacy's major crop. UTILIZING THE NAVY

• Southern Coast lined 2, 500 miles • Only three or four ships were available for duty because the rest were out dealing with foreign affairs or needed repairing • This did affect the South, as it intended too • The blockade created a hardship for the Confederates • The blockade was a key feature in winning the war BLOCKADE IMPORTANCE BLOCKADE IMPORTANCE

• The Union blockade was important against the Confederate South because it controlled the trade and resources the South needed in order to be successful • The South didn’t have many resources to begin with • They needed the outside world to supply the resources they needed in order to fight in the war • The blockade stopped the resources from reaching their destinations on the Southern Coast • The South lacked the resources they needed because they were unable to get through the blockade BLOCKADE IMPORTANCE

• The blockade became tighter with time • Sothern's weren't able to receive goods and couldn’t keep up a stable economy • It became hard to support the war • South became weak • This helped the war on the land • Confederates on the land were weak and the Union was able to take advantage of this and gain some war victories BLOCKADE MAP

BLOCKADE IMPORTANCE BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK

• The Confederates decided to challenge the North and developed its first ironclad. • The first Confederate ironclad was originally a Union ship, the Merrimack, that had been captured and converted • It was renamed Virginia • They converted it by ripping off everything above the waterline and then replaced it with a heavy casemate of heavy timbers that were covered by four inches of iron plating

BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK

• The Union followed the lead of the South and created their own ironclad. • Inventor, John Ericssons, ironclad was named the Monitor and was mostly underwater • All that appeared on the above the water, was a flat deck, and a circular “housing structure” that carried two guns • This was known as “tin can on a raft”, the worlds first gun turret that was protected by eight inches of iron BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK

• The Monitor and the Merrimack (know known as the Virginia) met at Hampton Roads, Virginia in March of 1862 • This was the world’s first battle between ironclad vessels • It battle was fought from point-blank range and lasted for three hours • Both ships fired at each other, but neither created devastating damage • The Merrimack even tried to ram the Monitor, but the small ship was able to dodge its attempt BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK

• After awhile, the Monitor disengaged and left to shallow water for safety. • This came as an advantage for the Merrimack, but they were low on ammunition and noticed their was a lowering tide • The Merrimack broke off the engagement and left for safety towards Norfolk • The battle ended in a draw • This effected Europe because ironclads proved to be a valuable weapon, and even thought they were originally European, they became extremely popular, and wooden ships were no longer used. BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS, VA MAP

BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK COMPARISON IN SIZE OF THE IRONCLAD SHIPS

BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK IMPACT OF SOUTHERN COMMERCE RAIDERS SOUTHERN COMMERCE RAIDERS

• Since the North had more ships, cannons, industrial facilities, and officers, the Confederate South needed something that they could use in order to challenge the North • They created two plans: • One group would defend their key port cities and rivers with gunboats, forts, and privateers • The other group would be Confederate Naval Vessels attacking the Union commerce at sea SOUTHERN COMMERCE RAIDERS

• Because the South didn’t have the same resources as the North, they had to look elsewhere for the production of new ships • The British secretly supplied these ships, even though they had claimed neutrality • President Davis dispensed “letters of marque” to civilian captains • This allowed them to prepare private vessels that could raid Union shipping • The “privateers” weren’t paid by the government, but were able to keep the ships and their cargo that they were able to seize • Profits were divided among the owner and the crew • The privateer vessels were smaller than Navy cruisers • This was an ideal profession during the war because they rarely fought in battles, but made a great profit SOUTHERN COMMERCE RAIDERS

• The Northern Blockade put a restraint on commerce raiders success • Captains were unable to reach their ports and could not sell their captured goods, refuel, drop off prisoners, or receive repairs • They had to go to foreign ports in order for their needs to be met, and this defeated their own purpose • Many countries didn’t want to get involved in the war so they limited the help they gave to Confederate ships • Privateers started to leave, and didn’t help as much because they were unable to make a profit because of the blockade SOUTHERN COMMERCE RAIDERS

• The South still had Cruisers that acted as commerce raiders • These raiders earned wages, and they burned almost everything they captured • When Union passengers or crew members were captured, they would be taken prisoners then dropped off at a neutral ship or port • Overall, the commerce raiders did not have a very big impact on the war effort • They were unable to report back to their ports and could not function properly because of this SOUTHERN COMMERCE RAIDERS

• Very rarely were there more than a few raiders out at sea a ta a time • They were able to increase Northern insurance premiums, made many merchants ship goods in foreign ships, and occasionally pull Union ships away from their blockade station • The raiders also sailed all over the world and educated people on the Confederacy and the OPCVL OPCVL- TEXT TERMS OF THE PROCLOMATION

• “Now therefore I, , President of the ...have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and of the Law of Nations in such case provided. For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach or shall attempt to leave any of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will endorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured, and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her, and her cargo as prize, as may he deemed advisable."

OPCVL- ORIGIN

• President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, gave this proclamation of the Northern Blockade from South Carolina to Texas on April 19, 1861. OPCVL-PURPOSE

• The purpose of the proclamation was so that the Union could take advantage of the Confederates since they had no navy. By creating the blockade, the South would suffer economically and wouldn’t have the resources to compete against the North. Lincoln says, “For this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid.” OPCVL- CONTENT

• The content in this source is what makes it important. It shows that President Lincoln did make a proclamation for a blockade along the Southern Coasts. He said that the blockade would. “set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States.” He proclaims that he will put a blockade along the further states and he goes on to say that the blockade will be destructive to any vessel that tries to pass it after its first initial warning. OPCVL- VALUE

• This source was produced so that the North could have an advantage over the South, who already had no navy. This source and its information is extremely valuable because it comes from the man who created the blockade. In the beginning of his proclamation he says, “Now therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States...have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and of the Law of Nations in such case provided.” OPCVL- LIMITATION

• A limitation in this source could be that it was unclear of whether it was a rebellion, or a declaration of war. He said, ”If, therefore, with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach or shall attempt to leave any of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the commander of one of the blockading vessels, who will endorse on her register the fact and date of such warning, and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured, and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her, and her cargo as prize, as may he deemed advisable.” President Lincoln did not make his intentions entirely clear and this may of created some confusion or concern of the South and/or other counties. SOURCES

• Websites: • http://www.civilwarhome.com/sailorlife.htm • http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/navy-hub/navy-history/ pivotal-naval-actions.html • http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/navy-hub/navy-history/ten- facts-about-the-civil-war.html • http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/warfare-and-logistics/ warfare/navy.html • http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/navy-hub/navy-history/ blockade.html • http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-ships.html • http://www.civilwar.org/photos/galleries/ships/ships-of-the-civil-war.html • http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/navy-hub/navy-history/steel- steam.html • http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/hampton-roads.html?tab=facts • http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/march-9-1862-the- monitor-and-merrimac-face-off-in-battle-of-hampton-roads/?_r=0 SOURCE

• http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/hampton-roads/maps/hampton- roads-march-9-1862.html • http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/hampton-roads.html • https://history.state.gov/milestones/1861-1865/blockade • http://www.civil-conflict.org/civil-war-battles/union-blockade.htm • http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-ships.html • http://www.civilwaracademy.com/union-navy.html • http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/navy-hub/navy-history/ confederate-commerce-raiders.html • Book: • Battle Cry of Freedom By James McPherson

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