Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 8, Nr 1, 1978. http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za T -I = CIVIL l:/4R:13 Z--t )L4CE F Tt E ~E'/ ~4VY C4.J)T R. L. SUEL VER, S4.~ * When the campaigns of the American Civil tation of the South at sea. Confederate privateers War are recalled the names that come to mind played havoc with Northern commercial ship- are Petersburg, Gettysburg, Manassas, Fredericks- ping throughout the oceans of the world and burg and Bull Run. All of these were land blockade runners thrilled the world with their battles, yet the soldiers' war contributed very daring exploits. Mines and torpedoes, as well little to the tactics or weaponry of modern as submarines and torpedo boats, had their warfare. On the other hand the unpublicised origins in the beleaguered South. Unique among naval engagements of the era were punctuated Confederate innovations was the first tactical with innovations that have remained part of today's submarine in history, the H.L. Hunley. Its short Navy. lifespan was marked with perseverance in spite of repeated failure. Designed and privately financed With the secession in December 1860 of South by Horace L. Hunley the submarine was built in Carolina from the Union the Southern Sates of the Mobile, Alabama in 1863. Its maiden voyage United States of America openly voiced their was marred by near disaster when it sank; for- disapproval of Republican President Abraham Lin- tunately all aboard escaped. Salvage was im- coln. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, possible and Hunley built a second vessel Louisiana and Texas severed their ties with which was railed to Charleston for further trials. Washington the following year and demanded On the first run a passing ship flooded her open that all Federal installations in these states be hatches and 8 of the 9 crew were lost. After abandoned. Lincoln refused and was on the salvage Hunley himself took command for a tactical verge of dispatching a force to resupply the demonstration against the CSS Indian Chief. strategic post in Charleston harbour, Fort Sumter, A dummy torpedo was to be towed astern whilst when the first shots of what is still America's the submarine dived below the Indian Chief and bloodiest war rang out. After a bloodless battle allowed the towed weapon to strike the target of 34 hours Fort Sumter was surrendered to the hull. Hydrostatics not being the exact science it is South. Lincoln called up an army of 75 000 today, Hunley's calculations proved to be in- to crush 'the rebellion': what had been se- correct and he exceeded the extreme diving depth cession was now open war and in the next of the boat bursting the ballast tanks and flooding four years over 618 000 Americans were to perish, the submarine. He and his eight crew were more than 430 a day, more dead than in World buried with full military honours in Charleston War I and II combined. some days later. At the start of the war on 12 April 1861, the The exploits of the H.L. Hunley were not yet Union or Federal forces had the United States Navy over. She was refloated, refitted and under at their disposal; some 42 serviceable ships command of Lieutenant George E. Dixon carried together with the Naval facilities at Washing- out the first genuine submarine attack, on 17 ton and Brooklyn Navy Yards. In Gideon Welles, February 1864. Dixon navigated his submerged Lincoln had a most energetic Secretary of the craft in among the Union blockade fleet at Navy. Ably aided by a brilliant assistant, Gustavus night and his selected target, the USS Housatonic, Fox, Welles commenced an expansion programme became the first submarine casualty, sinking almost which saw a Union Navy of 671 ships by immediately. Regrettably the Hunley succumbed to 1864. A vast ship building industry was launched the explosion as well and no trace of her has and a number of vessels either purchased or ever been found. In this attack a spar was commandeered. With the very existence of the fitted to the bow of the submarine to which a South dependant on trade with Europe Lincoln large explosive charge or torpedo was attached. wasted no time in instituting a naval blockade of Southern harbours. Without a real navy it was • Capt R.L. Shelver, SAN is Officer Commanding, Naval daring and ingenuity that gave rise to the repu- College at Gordons Bay 66 Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 8, Nr 1, 1978. http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za H. L. Hunlev - the first tactical submarine in history. The torpedo boat was also an innovation of the navies; had the Virginia won, the North would diminutive Confederate Navy. A cigar-shaped have lost control of Chesapeake Bay and its many steam-propelled torpedo boat, the David, was waterways; nevertheless the neutralisation of the used against the fleet blockading Charleston and Virginia, if not her destruction, enabled the did extensive damage to the USS New Ironsides. Union offensive to proceed as General Mc- The torpedo used in these attacks was also Clellan could now transport 121 500 men, nearly attached to a spar protruding ahead of the 15000 animals, 1 200 wagons and 44 pieces of ar- vessel, which steamed almost submerged into the tillery to the Virginia Peninsula by sea. From this attack. vantage point between the James and York Rivers, he prepared to engage the South on their home Not all the new ideas had their birth in the South; front and to threaten the capital Richmond. the ship-building programme instituted by Secre- taries Welles and Fox gave rise to the first The major role of the Navy in the Civil War of the all-iron warships, the Monitor. The famous was formulated early on with the blockade of encounter between the Monitor and the Virginia Southern ports. At the start the Union Navy tolled the death knell for the wooden men- had but few vessels to isolate some three-and- of-war. The Virginia was a captured Union ship, a-half thousand miles of Confederate coast the Merimack, which was converted into an line. Both sides realised how absolutely dependant 'ironclad' by the Confederates. Mounting 10 guns the Southern states were on European sources and fitted with an enormous battering-ram bow of supply; for the South salvation lay in keeping she ruled supreme in the waters of Hampton her supply lines intact, for the North an effec- Roads until this encounter. The Federal Navy's tive blockade would eventually secure victory. answer was the ironsided warship Monitor. With the growth of the Federal Fleet the blockade Although lacking the fire power of the Virginia grew more effective but Lincoln and Welles she had a very low profile, was far more ma- did not regard this in itself as sufficient to noeuvrable and had her only gun mounted in sever the South's commercial links with foreign a revolving turret. suppliers. By capturing ahd holding key points along the coast the blockade could be strength- On 9 March 1862 these two ships met in the ened, the ports still open be placed in jeopardy entrance to Chesapeake Bay. A three hour en- and the Federal Navy be in the position to re- gagement ensued and at the end both ships fuel closer to the scene of action. were still very much afloat. This seemingly inconclusive engagement had three major con- The Federal Forces began these tactics in August sequences: the duel marked the birth of steel 1861 with successful amphibious assaults on Fort 67 Scientia Militaria, South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 8, Nr 1, 1978. http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za Hatteras and Fort Clark in North Carolina. Two Of less importance because of its locality with months later Port Royal in South Carolina was regard to the action, Galveston was able to hold out captured together with the nearby town of Beau- until the end. In fact this city only capitulated fort. By March the following year the coastal officially some two months after the war had come towns of New Berne, Elizabeth City and Edenton to an end. had fallen into Federal hands and the interior of North Carolina was wide open to attack. With the Although the blockade contributed largely to the capture of Fort Pulaski in April the Savannah River downfall of the South the war at sea was not was almost untenable to Southern shipping and the Navy's only role. Possibly of equal importance the capture of Norfolk a little later closed the Vir- were the riverine operations carried out in conjunc- qinian coast to the South. tion with the Union armies. Mclellan's Inva- sion of the Virginian peninsula has been mentioned By 1864 only four of the major Confederate but it too has a sequel. McClellan was opposed ports were still open: Charleston, Mobile, Wil- in his advance to Richmond by General Johnston, the leader of the Confederate armies. During mington and Galveston. These became the Federal action Johnston was severely wounded and the Fleet's targets for the remainder of the war. New now legendary Rober E. Lee succeeded to Orleans had fallen in 1862 and the role of major port had passed to Mobile, Alabama. The harbour command. With the aid of the army of Stonewall defences were duly strengthened and vast con- Jackson, Lee turned retreat into advance and with the James River at his back McClellan tact and controlled minefields laid. Mines were then known as torpedoes and took the form of a was rescued in what is now referred to as the spar driven into the seabed at the top of Civil War's 'Dunkirk' by the very fleet that which was placed a large explosive charge.