Sp 3 sess. 6 civil war 2

Ex Scientia Tridens

American Sea Power Unprecedented Global Reach

session vi American Civil War, 1861-1865

Part 2; The New Technology: Ironclads in Action

“THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT, lacking the warships or shipbuilding capacity of the

North,….arguing that ‘Inequality in numbers may be compensated by invulnerability’ began converting a captured [in the Norfolk Navy yard] US steam frigate, Merrimac, into an ironclad. Her side timbers were cut down to the waterline and a casemate or battery was built on the lower hull over some two-thirds of her length, sloping inwards at about 45º; it was constructed of 20 inches of pine overlaid with 4 inches of oak with two layers of 2-inch-thick plates rolled out from railroad irons bolted on top.…”

Peter Padfield, Maritime Dominion and the Triumph of the Free World; Naval Campaigns that Shaped the Modern World, 1852-2001. p. 39.

4The American Civil War, 1861

“…on top. Pierced all around with fourteen gun ports, it was to house ten guns, six 9-inch smooth-bore cannon and four 6- or 7-inch rifled shell guns. A single funnel protruded from the top; all masts were removed. A cast-iron ram was attached at the bow of the lower hull.”

Ibid.

4The American Civil War, 1861

Major Topics

I. The New Year

II. The Iconic Ships

III. The Battle

IV. Other Ironclads

The New YearGeorge B. McClellan“Little Mac” or “The Young

Napoleon” led the Peninsula Campaign;

Mar -Jul 1862

Matthew Brady, 1861. Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs Division

14:The New Technology:

Ironclads in Action

Potter & Nimitz, eds., Sea Power, p. 262.

“The year 1861 had been one of surprise and bitter disappointment for the Union. The outbreak of war had climaxed a disastrous policy of drift. The ignominy of Bull Run had made the faint-hearted wonder if perhaps the reconquest of the South might not be beyond the capacity of the Lincoln government. The Confederate States of America was seen to emerge with an apparently stable and efficient government, evidently well able to maintain armies and wage war.”

“Yet the Union had made real progress.• First and most important, Lincoln had demonstrated a determine to wage war to a finish, and in spite of spotty political opposition, the people of the North rallied to his support with real patriotic intensity. Second, a workable master plan had been hammered out.…”

Union Strategy


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…hammered out. “The grand strategy early decided on by Lincoln and his advisers entailed large scale efforts by both army and naval forces: (1) The Army of the Potomac would simultaneously cover Washington and threaten Richmond; (2) in the W, an effort would be made to secure the line of the Mississippi, thereby splitting off the Southwest from the rest of the Confederacy; (3) the border areas—MO, KY, Western VA, and MD—would be, if necessary, occupied and held in the Union; (4) the Navy, which had already occupied Port Royal, would continue amphib ops along the coast in support of its major mission of blockading, and the strength the blockade would be improved; (5) foreign intervention would be obviated by a judicious combination of show of force, diplomatic ingenuity, and willingness to compromise.• “The economic preponderance of the North was gradually mobilized in support of the Union as it became increasingly obvious that a sustained war was going to be necessary. The Civil War was the first in history in which the steam engine, the railroad, and the industrial process generally were to have a decisive role.…”

Union Strategy


Ironclads in Action

“…decisive role. It was the good fortune of the North that in this vital area she was overwhelmingly superior. “In Nov 61 the talented but unstable • George B. McClellan succeeded elderly, ailing Winfield Scott • in command of the Army of the Potomac. Supremely competent as a drillmaster, ‘Little Mac’ trained his soldiers to a new excellence in the encampments around Washington.…”

Union Strategy

op. cit., pp. 262-263.

“…around Washington. Urged by Lincoln to press directly S against the outnumbered Southern force around Manassas, McClellan favored a grand flanking op against Richmond via the peninsula between the York and the James rivers. “This plan had the advantages of providing secure lines of water-borne communication defended by superior Union sea power.• Since the Union already held the extreme lower peninsula—Newport News and the area around Fortress Monroe—the troop movement could be accomplished without enemy harassment. The success of the earliest stages of the op would incidentally insure the evacuation of the Confederate forces around Norfolk. McClellan of course hoped that the tempo of the advance would produce major results before Gen Joseph E. Johnston.…”

op. cit., pp. 262-263.


Ironclads in Action

“…uncovering Washington. This danger required splitting off a considerable force (McDowell’s Corps) , to be held in northern VA. Second, McClellan was soon to reveal that he lacked the sturdy and decisive personality to command an ‘all or nothing’ campaign. Third, the element of secrecy, which was highly desirable if not absolutely essential to the success of the op, was apparently unobtainable in those days [there are many interesting accounts of Confederate spies in DC]. Richmond knew of his plans about as quickly as McClellan’s own division commanders. Finally, the absolute control of the Potomac, York, and lower James rivers, and of the Chesapeake Bay—on which McClellan’s lines of supply and reinforcement depended—was seriously threatened at the very time the first great adventure of the Army of the Potomac was to begin.”

Union Strategy

op. cit., p. 263.

The Iconic Ships Another nail in the coffin of wooden hulls


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“At Norfolk the scuttled Merrimac had been raised by the Confederates and was being converted into an ironclad. Should she prove impervious to the fire of the wooden blockaders, the essential precondition of Northern naval supremacy in the lower Chesapeake and VA rivers would be destroyed. Equally disastrous, the blockade would be ruptured. “Stephen R. Mallory,• Confederate SecNav, had been chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee of the US Senate….”

The Ironclad Virginia


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…US Senate. He brought to his job an intelligent awareness of the impending technological revolution in naval material. Two months before • Secretary Welles had diffidently recommended an ‘Ironclad Board’ to the US Congress, Mallory had addressed the Chairman of the Confederate Naval Affairs Committee thus:”


I regard the possession of an ironclad ship as a matter of the first necessity. Such a vessel at this time could traverse the entire coast of the US, prevent all blockade, and encounter, with a fair prospect of success, their entire navy. If, to cope with them upon the sea, we follow their example, and build wooden ships, we shall have to construct several at one time, for one or two ships would fall an easy prey to their comparatively numerous steam frigates. But inequality of numbers may be compensated by invulnerability, and thus not only does economy, but naval success, dictate the wisdom and expediency of fighting iron against wood without regard to first cost.1

______ 1 Dated 8 May 61. Cited by William C. Church, The Life of John Ericsson, (NY, 1891) , I, 245.


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“Plans were speedily drafted on the general style of the new British ironclads. In early Jul 61, Mallory formally approved the project of raising the frigate Merrimac 2…”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“Plans were speedily drafted on the general style of the new British ironclads. In early Jul 61, Mallory formally approved the project of raising the frigate Merrimac 2, repairing the hull and engines, clearing away the burnt-out superstructure, and replacing it with an armored casemate….”


______ 2 The USS Merrimac had been commissioned in 1856—the first in a class of six steam frigates, then generally regarded as the finest of their type in the world. She was 300 feet over-all, 250 feet on the keel, had a beam 51 feet, 4 inches, and drew 28 feet. Battle-loaded, she displaced 4500 tons. She had two 600-horse-power engines of new design, four tubular boilers,• …


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…armored casemate. “Work was started at once. Only the lack of metalworking industries prevented the South from securing thereby a prompt and possibly decisive advantage in the technological race. There was at that time only one rolling mill • [the Tredegar Iron Works, founded in 1837, by 1860 the third largest in the US. Located in Richmond, VA]…”


______ 2 The USS Merrimac had been commissioned in 1856—the first in a class of six steam frigates, then generally regarded as the finest of their type in the world. She was 300 feet over-all, 250 feet on the keel, had a beam 51 feet, 4 inches, and drew 28 feet. Battle-loaded, she displaced 4500 tons. She had two 600-horse-power engines of new design, four tubular boilers,• and a variable pitch screw. Like all such vessels in her day, she was ship-rigged. She carried a battery of 40 Dahlgren guns : two ten-inch pivots; 14 eight-inch, and 24 nine-inch in broadsides.


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…Richmond, VA] in the Confederacy capable of turning out the two-inch iron slabs for side armor. The only source of iron was used rails from the railroads. “In spite of the best efforts of the engineers in charge, the work progressed slowly….”



Ironclads in Action

“…progressed slowly. All through the summer, fall, and winter of 1861, Northern spies brought through the lines detailed accounts of its progress. These reports speeded the tardy countermeasures of the Union Navy. “In conversion, the Merrimac was cut down to the waterline, and provided with an armored superstructure with sides sloping from the vertical about 35º. The deck length of this casemate was 170 feet. The hull had only about two feet of freeboard forward, and rather less astern—under way at her plodding four knots, she carried her after deck virtually awash. “The casemate was framed with 20-inch pine beams overset with four-inch oak planks. The armor was two layers of iron plates, the first bolted on horizontally, the second vertically. The sloping sides of the casemate were to be smeared with tallow before the ship went into action, so that solid shot would tend to ricochet harmlessly. The top of the casemate was protected by a heavy iron grating, 120 feet by 20 feet, which would permit ventilation of the gun deck beneath. “The Merrimac, recommissioned as the CSS Virginia, mounted three 9-inch Dahlgrens and two 6-inch rifles in broadside, and had in addition two 7-inch rifled pivots. A heavy iron wedge was affixed to her bow as a ram. A crank [hard to steer], unseaworthy craft, of awkward deep draft for the shoal inland waters in which she was to operate, the Virginia was nevertheless an ingenious adaptation of the materials at hand and a tribute to her builders’ skill at improvisation….”


op. cit., pp. 263-264.


Ironclads in Action

“…at improvisation. “When the vessel was nearly completed, Cdr Franklin Buchanan,• an able former US naval officer,3 was designated to command her. Since the agrarian South had no merchant marine, finding a crew of trained seamen was more difficult. Eighty sailors were discovered in a New Orleans regiment at Yorktown. Seamen from Norfolk and inexperienced army volunteers made up the rest of the crew of about 350 men….”


op. cit., p. 264.

______ 3 Buchanan, the first superintendent of USNA (1845-47) , was one of a handful of outstanding naval leaders who resigned from the Union service in order to serve the Confederacy.


Ironclads in Action

“…350 men. “The Confederate authorities were actuated by a terrible sense of urgency, for espionage and ill-advised revelations in the Northern press kept them informed not only of McClellan’s invasion plan but also of the construction of the USS Monitor, a mysterious countermeasure to the Virginia. If the Virginia could be gotten underway in time, the five wooden ships of the Union navy blockading Norfolk and the lower Chesapeake could be smashed like matchwood, in spite of their 222 guns. Interrupted transatlantic traffic would once more flow to Norfolk. The position of the Union troops in Newport News and Fortress Monroe • would become untenable….”


op. cit., p. 264.


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…become untenable. The threat of the flanking op against Richmond would of course evaporate. Well might the patriotically inspired workmen, laboring nightly to rush the Virginia to completion, feel that on them depended the success of the Confederacy. “The temperate Mallory in his orders to Buchanan revealed the magnitude of his hopes from the Virginia :


The Virginia is a novelty in naval construction, is untried, and her powers unknown; and hence the department will not give specific orders as to her attack on the enemy. Her powers as a ram are regarded as very formidable, and it is hoped that you will be able to test them. Like the bayonet charge of the infantry, this mode of attack, while the most destructive, will commend itself to you in the present scarcity of ammunition…. Could you pass Old Point [Comfort],..•


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

Buchanan and his hastily assembled, untried crew were eager to fulfill the expectations of the Secretary.”


______ 4 Cited in John T. Scharf, History of the Confederate States Navy (New York, 1887) , 155.

Old Point [Comfort],• and make a dashing cruise in the Potomac as far as Washington, its effect upon the public mind would be important to our cause. The condition of our country, and the painful reverses we have just suffered, demand our utmost exertions; and convinced as I am that the opportunity and the means of striking a decisive blow for our navy are now, for the first time, presented, I congratulate you upon it, and know that your judgment and gallantry will meet all just expectations….4


Ironclads in Action

“The USN was not quick to realize the danger created by the early Confederate decision to build an ironclad or attempt to purchase one or more abroad. The subject of ironclad construction, discussed in the Navy Department in May 61, was tabled in the face of the more pressing problem of finding more wooden vessels to implement the blockade. In early Jul the Secretary in a message to the extra session of Congress requested authority to constitute an Ironclad Board and asked an appropriation. On 3 Aug, Congress authorized the board and appropriated $1,500,000 for the ‘construction or completing’5 of iron- or steel clad steamships or steam batteries….”

The Ironclad Board

op. cit., pp. 264-265.

______ 5 An obvious reference to the unfinished Stevens battery.


Ironclads in Action

“…steam batteries. “The Ironclad Board selected by Welles • and Fox was composed of three able and distinguished officers—Commodore Joseph Smith,• Commodore Hiram Paulding,• and Cdr Charles H. Davis….”

The Ironclad Board

op. cit., pp. 264-265.


Ironclads in Action

“…Charles H. Davis. None of them however possessed much background or experience in scientific innovation. The board itself was mindful of its technical limitations, and in its report officially deplored the fact that, though they had requested a qualified naval constructor as a consultant, ‘they [were] all so employed on important service that none could be assigned to this duty.’ “Nevertheless the board reviewed more than a hundred ironclad proposals submitted to the department and prepared a detailed and precise report submitted Sept 61….”

The Ironclad Board

op. cit., pp. 264-265.


Ironclads in Action

“…Sept 61. In summary, this important document, which established ironclad policy in the USN for the Civil War period and for some time thereafter, stated :

“These contracts were undertaken with comparatively little delay, and three vessels were duly produced. The New Ironsides (Merrick and Sons) , a broadside type of ironclad, was to do good service at Charleston….”

The Ironclad Board

op. cit., p. 265.

(1) Armored ocean-going cruisers are for the time being impractical. (2) For coast defense and operation in sheltered waters—harbors, bays and rivers—armored

gunboats of relatively shallow draft are feasible; such vessels should be constructed at once.

(3) Armored vessels of this type cannot successfully cope with masonry forts. (4) Wooden vessels will always be faster than ironclads, of whatever description. (5) At the current stage of technological development, smooth-bore cannon firing spherical

shot are superior to rifled ordnance and shell. (6) Though the US could doubtless get armored vessels more cheaply and more

expeditiously by purchase in England, it would be better policy to build them at home. (7) Three contracts for armored vessels are recommended—with the firms of Merrick and

Sons and C.S. Bushnell and Co., and with John Ericsson.


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

‘…at Charleston. The Galena (Bushnell) was a rather lightly armored gunboat that was mercilessly pounded at Drewry’s Bluff and was regarded as a failure.…”

The Ironclad Board


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

‘…a failure. By far the greatest historical interest centers in the Monitor (Ericsson). She was the union ironclad first in naval action, by her arrival Hampton Roads she frustrated the Confederate counterstrategy, she was the first of a succession of ‘Monitors’ in the USN, and she was the most influential American innovation in naval design in the 19th century.”

The Ironclad Board


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“John Ericsson, Swedish-born builder of the Monitor, was by 1861 already an internationally famous inventor and engineer.• Justly chagrined at the parsimony of the US Congress after the building of the Princeton, Ericsson had left Washington with the resolve never to return….”

The Monitor—A Study in Innovation


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…to return. “But the Civil War touched both his patriotic enthusiasm and his professional instincts; it was easy for his friend Bushnell to persuade him to offer his original project for an armored battery, and to explain to the less agile minds in the Navy Department just why it would work. “In mid-Sept 61 Welles promised him a contract, and Ericsson began work at once. In 101 working days the Monitor was afloat—perhaps the most original design in the history of naval architecture. The plan and supervision of the entire project were Ericsson’s contribution….”



Ironclads in Action

“…Ericsson’s contribution. The hull, the turret, and the engines and other machinery were contracted to various firms in the New York area. “The building of the Monitor was a remarkable tour de force. There was never any comprehensive complete design or scale model. Yet Ericsson prepared well over a hundred detailed drawings to guide the workmen. Nearly everything about the ship was radically new and untried. The first engineer of the Monitor estimated that the ship contained at least 40 patentable innovations. “The major distinctive features of this new instrument of warfare were these : she was designed to have very little reserve buoyancy, so that she offered only a foot or so of freeboard [distance between the top of the hull and the waterline]—and consequently a very small target area; her battery was concentrated in two guns of largest size, mounted side-by-side in a heavily armored turret; all exposed vertical surfaces were heavily armored; the deck was plated also, and an overhang protected the screw and rudder; all nonessential top-hamper was dispensed with….”


op. cit., pp. 265-266.


Ironclads in Action

“…dispensed with. Such a vessel, Ericsson reasoned, would offer a minimum and impregnable target to the enemy, while packing tremendous offensive strength on a moderate draft and displacement. “The finished Monitor was a hull 124 feet long, on which was riveted a raft-like deck 172 feet by 41½ feet, the vertical sides of which carried 4½-inch iron armor backed by oak. This deck was protected from plunging fire by one-inch armor on its horizontal surface. The 9-foot-high turret, 20 feet in diameter, was set on a brass ring laid into the deck. Eight layers of one-inch rolled iron plates made up the laminated sidewalls of the cylindrical turret. The turret cover was a grating of railroad rails. The 140-ton turret rested on a spindle which extended down to the keel….”


op. cit., p. 266.


Ironclads in Action

“…the keel. This spindle was cogged to a steam auxiliary engine that could turn the turret through a complete 360º revolution. “The battery consisted of two 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbores….”


op. cit., p. 266.


Ironclads in Action

“…Dahlgren smoothbores. When their muzzles were inboard of the ports (as for cleaning and loading) , the ports were automatically shielded by heavy iron ‘port stoppers’ that swung over like pendulums. It was Ericsson’s opinion that the turret should be revolved to bring the enemy under fire only an instant before actual firing, so that the exposure of the gun crews in opening the ports would be kept to a minimum. “The engine was of the then conventional double-trunk type, with its 36-inch cylinders bored in a single casing. There were two return-tube box boilers.…”


Ibid.


Ironclads in Action

“…box boilers. The Monitor’s first commanding officer was Lt John L. Worden USN—a brave man and a beloved leader, though rather lacking in the technical background this novel type of ship was to demand. The Monitor was commissioned on 25 Feb 62 and after a brief testing was ordered to Hampton Roads.”


Ibid.

The Battle The World was watching.

A Composite Diagram of the Area Where the Battle is Fought


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“In early Mar the fortunes of the North and the South appeared to be hanging in unstable balance. McClellan believed that in the Army of the Potomac he had at last the well-oiled fighting machine needed to win the war in a single crushing campaign. His carefully worked out plan for advancing up the peninsula appeared almost foolproof. The inferior Confederate armies would be pinned to their positions by the necessity of defending Richmond to the last. Only the latent threat of the Virginia in the Elizabeth River • clouded the rosy expectations of the Union commander….”

The Battle of Hampton Roads


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…Union commander. If in fact the Confederate ram could impair the absolute sea control of the Union Navy, the transports could not venture into Hampton Roads, and McClellan’s whole strategy would have to be modified or abandoned. “The events of 8 and 9 Mar in Hampton Roads constitute one of those rare ‘set pieces’ of history—not only in the dramatic reversal occasioned by the Monitor, but in that they occurred in a kind of natural naval amphitheater….”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…naval amphitheater. The anchorage is essentially the lower James River, here broadened to six miles in width before its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay. The N shore was held by Union forces:• Fortress Monroe on Old Point Comfort, and Newport News Point to the W, where newly emplaced batteries covered the approach to the James River proper….”


UNION


Ironclads in Action

“…River proper. The Confederates held the entire S bank:• they had heavily fortified Sewell’s Point,• six miles almost due S of Fortress Monroe, and they had less formidable works at Pig Point to the W.• So restricted were the dimensions of the battleground that thousands on both sides—Union troops and a good part of the population of Norfolk—were able to witness the events related below….”


op. cit., pp. 266-267.


Ironclads in Action

“…related below. “Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough,• commanding the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, had concentrated in Hampton Roads what by earlier standards was a formidable blockading force—the 50-gun screw frigates Minnesota and Roanoke (sister ships of the original Merrimac) , the sailing frigates St Lawrence and Congress, both 44s, and the sailing sloop Cumberland, 24. Goldsborough correctly assumed that when the Virginia was first brought into action she would head for the Congress and the Cumberland, which were anchored farthest to the W, blockading the James….”


op. cit., pp. 266-267.


Ironclads in Action

“…the James. Goldsborough’s plan was to run down the Confederate ram with the Minnesota (flagship) and any other large steam vessels that might happen to be in the anchorage. His aim was, above all, to prevent the Virginia’s retreat back up the Elizabeth River. The plan involved an underestimation of the defensive strength of the Virginia; it also took too little account of the shoalness of the water, which seriously restricted rapid movement by any of his deep draft vessels.• “On 8 Mar Flag Officer Buchanan took his new command out from the Navy Yard into Hampton Roads. Her officers and crew were still strangers to each other. Workmen were still putting on the finishing touches as the Virginia was warped by armed tugs down the Elizabeth River. There were no engine run-ups and no gunnery drills. This, her trial cruise, was to be directly into action. Cheers went up from the crowds on the wharves and rooftops of Norfolk. “The deficiencies of the hybrid vessel became apparent as she steamed into deeper water by Sewell’s Point. In calm water, her engines could manage at best a sluggish five knots….”


op. cit., p. 267.


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…five knots. She answered her helm so reluctantly that it took more than a half hour to turn her completely around. “Some small converted gunboats constituting the Confederate ‘James River Squadron’ were blockaded up the river at Newport News by the Congress and Cumberland,• which lay at anchor at the northwestern extremity of Hampton Roads. Buchanan therefore turned first on these latter ships, intending by his attack on them to enable the Confederate gunboats to enter the anchorage. “The Virginia chugged ponderously NW toward her adversaries.• The Union vessels had hardly expected action that day….”



Ironclads in Action

“…that day. The CO of the Cumberland was absent at a board of inquiry in the Roanoke, and on both the Congress and Cumberland boats were at the booms, and laundry was drying in the lower rigging. The ships were hastily cleared for action, and when the Virginia passed at about 1,500 yards range, she and the Congress exchanged broadsides.• The heavy shells from the Virginia’s guns crashed through the oak planking of the Congress, whereas the hail of solid shot from the port battery of the Union vessel bounced and ricocheted harmlessly from the greasy sloping sides of the Virginia. The ram continued onward toward the Cumberland, anchored farther to the W. With maximum way on , the Virginia crashed her ram into the Cumberland’s starboard bow,….”


op. cit., pp. 267-268.


Ironclads in Action

“…starboard bow, crushing the wooden hull like an eggshell. At the moment of impact she fired her bow pivot into the stricken vessel killing ten men.• The Cumberland settled so rapidly that the Virginia barely escaped being dragged down with her victim, but the ram structure broke off as the ironclad backed clear. The Virginia, still under heavy fire from the sinking vessel, slowly circled under her stern ports and raked her at 200 yards with a broadside that harvested a long windrow of dead and mangled on the decks of the wooden ship. The devotion and courage of the officers and crew of the Cumberland in continuing the hopeless fight is a splendid example of what the Old Navy meant by ‘iron men in wooden ships.’….”


op. cit., p. 268.


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…wooden ships.’ With a third of her crew dead or wounded, with water surging into a hole in her side big enough to drive a horse and cart through, the Cumberland kept firing with every gun that would bear. As she sank, deck by deck, the gun crews simply joined the depleted crews on the deck above, until at length the magazines were flooded out and the vessel careened crazily to port. The last remaining gun crew fired its final shot and leaped into the water….”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…the water. Coming to rest on the shallow bottom, the Cumberland still had her mastheads above the water, and the flag of the sunken vessel still fluttered at her peak. Meanwhile the Virginia, which had suffered only superficial topside damage and two casualties, turned her attention to the Congress….”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…the Congress. That ship, her officers realizing the invulnerability of the Virginia to their guns, had gotten under way with jib and topsails, and with the aid of a tug was run in near Signal Point to get the support of the land batteries. The Congress grounded in the shallows where the Virginia with her great draft could not follow to ram. During this movement the Congress was attacked by the Virginia’s tiny consorts, the armed tugs Beaufort and Raleigh, each of which carried one heavy rifled gun. These unarmored vessels were careful however to keep out of the way of the Congress’s broadsides. “The Virginia was with some difficulty turned around in the shallows off the Union batteries on the lower James, which dueled the ship without much effect. But finally the ironclad lumbered down to a raking position off the stern of the Congress and at 150 yards threw shell after shell into the doomed vessel. These were devastating in their explosive effect; they also set her on fire. The acting commanding officer was killed. When his successor saw his ship a flaming slaughterhouse, with not a single gun that could be brought to bear, he ordered the colors struck. “The Confederates attempted to accept the surrender and take prisoners….”



Ironclads in Action

“…take prisoners. But a regiment of troops ashore who had waded out in the shallow water kept up a galling musketry barrage, supported by artillery, which killed and wounded several of the Confederate boat party. Buchanan in a rage ordered the Congress bombarded with red hot shot. Climbing topside to observe this op, he was drilled in the leg by a Minie • ball from an infantryman’s rifle….”


op. cit., pp. 268-269.


Ironclads in Action

“…infantryman’s rifle. Lt Catesby ap Roger Jones • thereupon succeeded to the command of the Virginia. “During the two hours while the Virginia was destroying the Cumberland and the Congress, the James River squadron joined the Virginia and her diminutive escorts. The Minnesota, the Roanoke, and the St. Lawrence all had attempted to come to the aid of the stricken Union vessels. All had grounded before coming into effective range—the Minnesota so firmly that she was not successfully floated for four tides….”


op. cit., pp. 268-269.


Ironclads in Action

“…four tides. The Virginia, accompanied by the Patrick Henry and the Jamestown of the James River squadron, now turned their attention to the helpless Minnesota. The shoalness of the water however prevented a near approach by the Virginia, and her marksmanship at 2,000 yards was such that only one shell struck its target at this time. The rifled guns of the smaller Southern gunboats did much more damage, but the single gun that the Minnesota was able to bring to bear finally drove them off….”


op. cit., pp. 268-269.


Ironclads in Action

“…them off. After about three hours of trying to approach nearer the Minnesota, the Virginia and her consorts steamed triumphantly back in the gathering dusk to an anchorage under Sewell’s Point. “In a single afternoon the Confederate ram had sunk a heavy frigate and a large sloop of war and had damaged another Northern vessel. Two hundred and fifty Union sailors had been killed or drowned. Including injuries to the boarding party, the Virginia and her consorts had 21 killed and wounded. The Patrick Henry had four men scalded to death when her boiler was struck by a ball from the Newport News batteries. “Except for the loss of her ram, which occasioned a bad leak forward, the Virginia had suffered only superficial damage. The muzzles of two of her guns were smashed, and the top hamper was riddled and partly shot away. But her armor was not penetrated at any point, and she was ready for action on the following day. “Yet it was not so much in her accomplishments that the Confederates exulted. It was rather in the illimitable opportunities that seemed to be opening up. There appeared to be no reason why the Minnesota, the Roanoke, the St. Lawrence, and the host of little Union gunboats which remained in Hampton Roads could not be readily destroyed or driven away….”


op. cit., p. 269.


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…driven away. The blockade would be broken. McClellan’s planned flank attack on Richmond had become impossible. Foreign intervention was now, so it seemed, infinitely more likely. All the fondest hopes • of Secretary Mallory appeared fully justified by the invulnerable Virginia. Bonfires of celebration were lighted all over the South as the telegraph speed word of the victory.•

“Yet even while the Virginia was wreaking havoc in the Union squadron off Norfolk, • Ericsson’s strange-looking little Monitor • was laboring down the coast to get to the scene of the battle. Towed by a tug, and convoyed by two wooden steamers, she had left New York after perfunctory trials on 6 Mar. About noon on the 7th she ran into rough weather off the DL capes. Waves surged over the vessel flooded through the badly stoppered hawse-pipes into the hull and down the stack and blower pipe. With the blowers disabled, engine spaces filled with gassesThe engineering force narrowly escaped asphyxiation : they were dragged topside unconscious to revive on the turret top….”


Arrival of the Monitor


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…turret top. With all machinery inoperative, the water in the bilges was serious worry to • Lt Worden; an awkwardly long bucket brigade attempted to maintain the vessel’s small positive buoyancy. Toward evening the weather and sea improved, making it possible to start the engines again. But in the early morning of the 8th, the blowers were again flooded out. To render the volunteer crew even more miserable, the wheel-ropes jammed, so that the safety of the ship depended entirely on the manila hawser connecting her to the tug. This nightmarish voyage concluded about 1600 on 8 Mar, when the Monitor rounded Cape Charles and started up the bay toward Hampton Roads, whence could be heard the sound of cannonading. “To a large extent the seagoing deficiencies of the Monitor stemmed from small, easily corrected defects of workmanship, and from the inexperience of her personnel. The voyage is an eloquent reminder of the need for careful and detailed trials for which there was no time with the Monitor. “Worden cleared his ship for action as he conned her up to Old Point Comfort….”



Ironclads in Action

“…Point Comfort. About 2100 he reported to Capt John Marston [SOPA, no picture on Wiki] in the Roanoke. Marston ordered the Monitor to protect the grounded Minnesota. “Her way was lighted by the flaming Congress, whose magazines finally exploded a little after midnight. The Monitor anchored just W of the Minnesota, and her exhausted crew attempted to get some sleep.• Efforts continued all night to get the Minnesota afloat, but in vain. “About 0630 on 9 Mar the morning fog had thinned just enough for the seamen in the Union vessels to see the exhaust steam of the Virginia as she came out of her anchorage under Sewell’s Point.• An hour or so later the sun appeared. By now the huge black ram had come S of the Middle Ground,• and fired a shell into the rigging of the Minnesota. It was evident that she intended to turn into the channel N of the Middle Ground shoal. The Minnesota fired ineffectually with her stern guns.• “Worden upped anchor and steamed around the Minnesota to approach the ram directly and engage her as far as possible from the nearly helpless frigate….”

op. cit., pp. 269-270.



Ironclads in Action

“…helpless frigate. Although the Confederates at first took her to be a mere floating buoy, or a ‘cheese box on a raft,’ the Monitor was nevertheless soon recognized by Jones and his officers as the radically designed Union ironclad of which they had read in the Norfolk papers. “The Virginia opened fire with a rifled gun, and missed. Conserving her fire to point blank range, the Monitor swung her turret to bear at the moment she came alongside and rattled the frames of her adversary wit two 11-inch shot, which struck the sloping casemate without penetrating….” op. cit., p. 270.



Ironclads in Action

“…without penetrating. The Virginia turned to starboard sufficiently to bring her three-gun broadside to bear, and fired again, this time striking the Monitor’s turret. The Confederate gunners were chagrined to see their heavy shell break up like ripe melons against the Monitor’s plates, without discernibly denting them. “There ensued a two-hour gunnery duel very close range.• Like a terrier baiting a bull, the Monitor kept close to her larger adversary, so that the Virginia could sometimes hardly bring a gun to bear. The Virginia was working badly, and in any event her 23-foot draft made her awkward to maneuver in the shallow waters of the Roads….”

op. cit., p. 270.



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…the Roads. The Monitor was operating as Ericsson had dreamed, and her mere 12-foot draft gave her much more working room. It was Worden’s hope that by repeated hits at pistol shot range to batter the Virginia’s plates loose if he could not penetrate her armor. Blinding clouds of steam and black powder smoke enveloped the vessels most of the time during this duel at 40 yards or less. “Realizing the futility of trying to penetrate the armor of the Monitor, Jones determined to ram his opponent or to board her.After an hour of discouraging maneuvering with this end in view, Jones thought he saw his opportunity and ordered ‘Full speed ahead!’ But as the Virginia lumbered down upon her, the Monitor turned nimbly so that the blow was a glancing one, damaging the Monitor not at all, and springing another leak in the Virginia’s own bow. The far greater maneuverability of the Monitor made boarding similarly infeasible. The Union vessel was virtually able to pick and hold any position relative to the Virginia that her CO wished. “Resolved at any rate to destroy the Minnesota, Jones turned suddenly away from the Monitor and attacked the wooden frigate with his rifled bow gun….”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…bow gun. The Minnesota sought to defend herself with her broadside and her 10-inch pivot. This exchange had the expected result. The Virginia was apparently undamaged, and the battered Minnesota was set on fire. A tug that had been futilely trying to pull the Minnesota off the bar was destroyed by a shell through her boiler. “As quickly as possible, Worden brought the Monitor between the Minnesota and the enemy. In maneuvering for position, the Virginia now grounded. Both the Minnesota and the Monitor pounded their immobile adversary, and at this moment it seemed safe to predict the ram’s destruction. But now occurred one of those chance events that so often upset the odds in battle. While the Monitor was standing in at 10 or 15 yards to try to deliver a coup de grâce, the Virginia’s officers shifted their point of aim from the invulnerable turret of the Monitor to the tiny pilot house on the foredeck.…”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…bow gun. The Minnesota sought to defend herself with her broadside and her 10-inch pivot. This exchange had the expected result. The Virginia was apparently undamaged, and the battered Minnesota was set on fire. A tug that had been futilely trying to pull the Minnesota off the bar was destroyed by a shell through her boiler. “As quickly as possible, Worden brought the Monitor between the Minnesota and the enemy. In maneuvering for position, the Virginia now grounded. Both the Minnesota and the Monitor pounded their immobile adversary, and at this moment it seemed safe to predict the ram’s destruction. But now occurred one of those chance events that so often upset the odds in battle. While the Monitor was standing in at 10 or 15 yards to try to deliver a coup de grâce, the Virginia’s officers shifted their point of aim from the invulnerable turret of the Monitor to the tiny pilot house on the foredeck. The pilot house, projecting only four feet above the deck, was made of 9-by-12-inch cast iron bars with a narrow eyelet under the topmost bar. Inside were the stations of the conning officer, the pilot, and the helmsman. “About 1130 a lucky shell from the Virginia exploded against the front of the pilot house,…”



Ironclads in Action

“…pilot house, and drove powder fragments through the eye slit into Lt Worden’s eyes—blinding him temporarily and wounding him seriously about the face. Worden sent for his XO, Lt Samuel D. Greene, who was in the turret, but Greene did not assume the con of the ship for about 20 minutes. During this time the helmsman followed Worden’s last order, which was to ‘sheer off.’ The effect was that the Monitor withdrew to the E toward Fortress Monroe. “The Virginia profited from this withdrawal to put out boats with kedges [from?] , by means of which she was successfully warped off the bottom. Seeing his iron protector apparently in retreat, the CO of the Minnesota grimly made preparations to blow up his vessel rather than allow her capture by the Virginia. “But the position of the ram herself was far from comfortable. Her leak forward had been made worse by the grounding. Furthermore her bow was so lightened by the loss of her prow and anchors that the water inside her greatly increased her draft at the stern, whereas her bow tended to ride up so that her shield was almost out of water. When her pilots reminded Lt Jones that the tide was falling, he decided that the risk of remaining on the scene was not justified by the slight advantage to be gained by destroying the battered Minnesota….”

op. cit., pp. 270-271.



Ironclads in Action

“…battered Minnesota. The Virginia, leaking badly, her top-hamper utterly shot away, chugged slowly back to her Sewell’s Point anchorage. The fight had lasted more than four hours.• “Meanwhile Lt Greene, having at last taken the con, wheeled the Monitor about and came back to the Minnesota. He threw two or three long-range shots at the departing Virginia but made no further attempt to pursue. Thus indecisively ended the most celebrated single-ship duel ever engaged in by American vessels. “Damage to the Monitor was slight, and entirely confined to the pilot house. The Virginia, though no shot had penetrated her casemate, was struck by nearly all the 41 solid shot that the Monitor fired at her; these cracked her plates, and in some instances fractured the wooden backing. Damage to her superstructure and hull required extensive repairs in drydock.”

op. cit., p. 271.



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“The usual conclusion of historians is that the battle was a tactical draw but a strategic victory for the Monitor. Yet the thoughtful student is left with certain tantalizing questions that can be answered only with careful reservations : Why was the engagement so indecisive? Why did the Monitor fail to pursue her adversary toward Norfolk? Why was the duel never renewed? How could the evident structural superiority of the Monitor have been made the basis of the complete victory which Ericsson had a right to expect from his invention? “A partial answer to several of these questions can be summarized as inadequate testing of material, and inadequate training of personnel. This in turn stemmed not so much from oversight or carelessness as from the precipitate need of the Monitor in Hampton Roads as the single adequate weapon to cope with the Virginia. “The new 11-inch battery of the Monitor was restricted by BuOrd order to 15-pound charges. Yet later experience was to make 25- and even 30-pound charges common. On seeing their shot fail to penetrate the Virginia’s casemate, Worden and Greene must have been sorely tempted to increase their charges.…”

Aftermath of the Battle


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…their charges. Yet with two guns mounted side by side, to burst a barrel would have been to have destroyed completely the offensive power of the ship. To disobey a categorical order and thereby to risk the destruction of an unfamiliar engine of war entrusted to them is surely too much to expect of junior officers.7 There can however be no question that the Monitor would have destroyed her antagonist if she had used sufficient powder charges.…”


______ 7 The celebrated explosion of the Peacemaker aboard the Princeton was a fresh enough memory in the minds of naval officers to insure double respect for bureau restrictions against overcharging.


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…powder charges. “The officers and crew of the Monitor, as the above account indicates, began the fight nearly exhausted from the harrowing voyage down the coast. This may explain why Greene did not see fit to pursue the Virginia under the guns of the Confederate shore batteries. Asst. SecNav Fox, who was at the scene of the engagement in a tug, apparently was not altogether satisfied with Greene’s performance however: he immediately relieved him of the temporary command of the Monitor. “Washington was still jittery over the threat of the Virginia, and on 10 Mar Gideon Welles, either on his own initiative or on the advice of the President, issued peremptory orders that the Monitor was not to be taken under the fire of the shore batteries.…”



Ironclads in Action

“…shore batteries. Too much depended on her continuing to exercise control of the Roads to risk her injury or destruction.• The grand strategic offensive of McClellan’s army could best be served by a tactically defensive objective on the part of the Navy. “The Virginia was badly enough damaged to require much repair work. In addition, her officers realized she was no match for the Monitor. Nevertheless, • Josiah Tatnall, her new CO, took her out into the Roads on 11 Apr, 8 May, and 9 May. The Confederate command had worked out a scheme by which the Monitor would be boarded by crews of the wooden gunboats while the Virginia kept her closely engaged.…”

op. cit., pp. 271-272.



Ironclads in Action

“…closely engaged. This desperate plan was frustrated by the arrival of substantial reinforcements to the Union blockading force, including the ironclads Galena and Naugatuck. Goldsborough had moreover acquired a large fast vessel, the Vanderbilt, which was to be used as a ram against the Virginia, if she could be enticed out into deep water. Both sides exercised caution in their use of their strongest naval weapons, since the risk of loss of either the Virginia or the Monitor seemed to outweigh the advantage of destroying her adversary. The arrival of the Monitor had made McClellan’s Peninsula campaign possible after all; her loss would seriously hamper his ops. On the other hand, the Confederate government deemed Norfolk safe as long as the Virginia stood at its water gates.…”

op. cit., pp. 271-272.



Ironclads in Action

“…water gates. The ram was a one ship fleet-in-being..…”op. cit., p. 272.



Ironclads in Action

“…water gates. The ram was a one ship fleet-in-being. “By 5 Apr some 121,500 blue-coated soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, with all their equipment [“…44 artillery batteries, 1,150 wagons, over 15,000 horses, and tons of equipment and supplies. An English

observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant.”—Wikipedia] , had been landed on the Peninsula. In spite of overwhelming superiority, McClellan dallied before the thinly held Confederate line anchored on Yorktown until Johnston •.…”

op. cit., p. 272.



Ironclads in Action

“…water gates. The ram was a one ship fleet-in-being.• “By 5 Apr some 121,500 blue-coated soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, with all their equipment [“…44 artillery batteries, 1,150 wagons, over 15,000 horses, and tons of equipment and supplies. An English

observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant.”—Wikipedia] , had been landed on the Peninsula. In spite of overwhelming superiority, McClellan dallied before the thinly held Confederate line anchored on Yorktown until Johnston • quietly abandoned it on the night of 3 May.• Pursuit brought on a partial and indecisive engagement near Williamsburg on 5 May, after which the Confederates continued their withdrawal unmolested.…”

op. cit., p. 272.



Ironclads in Action

“…water gates. The ram was a one ship fleet-in-being.• “By 5 Apr some 121,500 blue-coated soldiers of the Army of the Potomac, with all their equipment [“…44 artillery batteries, 1,150 wagons, over 15,000 horses, and tons of equipment and supplies. An English

observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant.”—Wikipedia] , had been landed on the Peninsula. In spite of overwhelming superiority, McClellan dallied before the thinly held Confederate line anchored on Yorktown until Johnston • quietly abandoned it on the night of 3 May.• Pursuit brought on a partial and indecisive engagement near Williamsburg on 5 May, after which the Confederates continued their withdrawal unmolested.• The effect however was to leave the whole lower peninsula from the York to the James River, up to the line of the Chickahominy, in Union hands, and to open the James River to Union gunboats. Norfolk and Portsmouth were now between two Union forces—the Army of the Potomac and Burnside’s command, which was advancing N from NC. Finding their position no longer tenable, the Confederate forces on 10 May reluctantly abandoned the Norfolk area with its invaluable Navy Yard. Almost at once Union troops from Fortress Monroe moved in. “An effort was made to lighten the Virginia enough to take her up the James River to Drewry’s Bluff, but the scheme had to be given up as impracticable.…”

op. cit., p. 272.



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…as impracticable. On the other hand, her general lack of seaworthiness and her undependable engines made it impossible for her to try to fight her way out into the bay and to the open ocean. Regretfully, Cdr Tatnall ordered her blown up. “The crew of the Virginia, together with those of the Patrick Henry and the smaller gunboats, manned the Confederate batteries at Drewry’s Bluff, where they were to stop the Union gunboats in their efforts to fight their way up the James to Richmond….”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…to Richmond. After a number of severe battles (Seven Pines, Seven Days’, Gaines’ Mill), McClellan’s force, though its farthest advance reached almost to the suburbs of Richmond, was withdrawn. McClellan, the magnificent drillmaster, had created an unconquerable army. But he had demonstrated all too clearly that he lacked the perseverance and moral courage that his army deserved in its commander. The Federal occupation of Norfolk was the only permanent harvest of the campaign….”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…the campaign. “Later in the year the Monitor foundered in a gale off the Carolina capes, taking with her a part of her crew.• In her brief life she had by stopping the Virginia not only averted a serious threat to the blockade; she had also by her presence in Hampton Roads made possible the Army’s offensive in the Peninsula….”


Other Ironclads The Hunley was the first submarine to succeed in sinking an enemy warship. Here its eponymous inventor is seen talking with a Confederate sentry.

Conrad Wise Chapman (1842-1910), Submarine Torpedo Boat H.L. Hunley, Dec. 6, 1863


Ironclads in Action

“…the Peninsula. And her design fathered a numerous class of improved models, which were to perform notable service in the war. She was an important influence in ship design for more than 40 years—both in the United States and abroad.

op. cit., pp. 272-273.


Other Ironclads

“The Confederates built a number of other ironclads, but none achieved the early success of the Virginia, for the South never again had the initial advantage of surprise and novelty and, in any event, lacked the means to profit by the technological lessons of the Virginia-Monitor engagement. “Early in 1863 two small ironclads (roughly of the Virginia model) sortied against the wooden blockaders off Charleston and inflicted some injury….”


Ironclads in Action

“…some injury. But these were contained by superior Union ironclads which were sent down for that purpose. Later the same year Savannah sent out the Atlanta,• an ironclad in most respects more formidable than the Virginia. She was immediately engaged by the monitor Weehawken,• which with just five shots compelled the Southern vessel to surrender. Two solid shot from the monitor’s new 15-inch Dahlgren gun smashed through the four-inch armor belt of the Atlanta and devastated the interior of the ship….”

op. cit., p. 273.

Other Ironclads


Ironclads in Action

“…the ship. “Another Confederate ironclad, the Albemarle, was the occasion of a dashing exploit by a junior officer. This vessel was built in 1864 for service on the NC sounds, with the object of interfering with the blockade and Union amphib activity in the area of Plymouth. Since no Union ironclads could be spared immediately to cope with her,• Lt William B Cushing USN volunteered to destroy her at anchor with a spar torpedo rigged to the bow of a launch….”

op. cit., p. 273.

Other Ironclads


Ironclads in Action

“…a launch. One night in late Oct 64, he went in with a picked crew and succeeded in getting his boat under the counter of the ram just before he was discovered and fired upon. Cushing exploded his ‘torpedo’ successfully, blowing the bottom out of the Albemarle, which immediately sank. The launch was also sunk by the explosion, but Cushing and one of his men, who plunged into the chilly water, swam downstream to safety. Two of Cushing’s men were killed; 19 were captured….”

op. cit., p. 273.

Other Ironclads


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…were captured. “The Union with its vastly superior industrial facilities maintained a considerable ironclad building program throughout the war. Not only were improved ‘monitors’ built in quantity, but broadside-type armored vessels were improvised out of any hulks on hand. The fighting on the western rivers was to produce its own peculiar but efficient [and much cheaper, i.e. $9,000 vs $200,000 on average!] shoal-draft iron-and ‘tin’-clads.”•

Other Ironclads

“The idea of destroying an enemy vessel of war by underwater explosives was by no means wholly novel in the 1860s. Bushnell’s and Fulton’s experiments of a half century and more earlier were remembered. Samuel Colt (of revolver fame) had conducted a series of successful and widely publicized tests with electrically fired mines between 1842 and 1845. Public opinion in both North and South however was at first revolted by what seemed a very unsporting kind of warfare.…”

Mines and Submarines


Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…of warfare. Yet the magnitude of the South’s naval defense problem in protecting 3,000 miles of coastline made the Confederacy’s reluctant acceptance of ‘torpedoes’ (as stationary mines were then called) almost inevitable. “Matthew Fontaine Maury, who had resigned his USN commission to join his native VA in the war, was the original moving spirit in this branch of naval innovation, and was the first chief of the Confederate States Naval Submarine Battery Service.…”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…Battery Service. The mines produced were of various sorts—all rather primitive in design but often highly effective. The most common was the moored ‘keg torpedo,’a pitch-lined beer barrel filled with black powder and triggered by contact fuses studded around its body.• Other types were ‘frame torpedoes,’ which lay on the bottom, floating multi-unit ‘barrel torpedoes’. and ‘pronged torpedoes’—variously fired either by fulminate caps on contact or by shore-directed electrical impulse. For river and harbor defense, the electrical torpedoes proved most successful, and over ten % of the South’s considerable mine production was of this type.…”



Ironclads in Action

“…this type. Still more might profitably have been used, but it was typical of the poverty of the Confederacy’s industrial base that insulated copper wire was almost unprocurable in the South at any price. “To explode a lethal charge against an enemy vessel, the only device available was the spar torpedo—the type used by Cushing • in sinking the Albemarle. To counter the torpedo threat, the Union navy developed torpedo nets to shield anchorages, as at the siege of Charleston in 1863-65. A crude mine sweep made of a raft festooned with chains and grapnels was on occasion pushed ahead of a Union ironclad. “In spite of failures through seepage into the powder charges and breaks in the insulation of firing cables, the Confederacy’s mine warfare was effective. Thirty-one Union vessels were lost to mines—more than to any other cause. A well-founded fear of torpedoes made Union commanders increasingly circumspect in approaching Confederate harbors and river mouths, and in many instances hampered the planning of Union ops. “In 1861 the idea of a submarine was certain to appeal to a negligible naval power opposed to a considerable naval power. And in fact in the Confederacy there were a number of efforts to devise a successful submersible or semi-submersible…”


op. cit., pp. 273-274.


Ironclads in Action

op. cit., p. 274.

“…or semi-submersible. The first of a curious hybrid-type torpedo boat known as ‘Davids’ was built at New Orleans but never had an opportunity for combat trial. Others were built for use against the Union blockading forces in the siege of Charleston. The David was a steam-driven, cigar-shaped craft, 50 feet long and carrying a crew of four.…”



Ironclads in Action

op. cit., p. 274.

“…of four. She cruised wholly submerged except for her hatch and funnel. For offense she carried a spar torpedo, • to be detonated by an impact fuse when rammed against the underwater hull of a vessel. “At sunset on 5 Oct 63, a David left Charleston with the objective of sinking the USN’s powerful ironclad New Ironsides. After passing unobserved through the blockading fleet, the semi-submersible came alongside her intended victim about 2100. Here at last she was seen and hailed, whereupon her CO replied with a shotgun blast that mortally wounded the Ironside’s OOD, then drove his torpedo into the ship’s starboard quarter six feet below the water line. The resulting blast threw up a column of water that extinguished the David’s fires. The 60-pound charge of the David’s torpedo proved too light to sink the thick-sided Ironsides, but the concussion opened numerous leaks and did widespread internal damage, requiring docking and extensive repairs.…”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…extensive repairs. “This moderate success moved the Confederacy to invest funds in a true submersible being developed by a civilian,• Horace L. Hunley, and his associates at Mobile.…”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…at Mobile. The submarine, named CSS Hunley, carried a crew of nine, eight of whom ‘manned the cranks’• to operate her propellor. She was 25 feet long and had foldable compartments fore and aft for stability. Hauling her torpedo at the end of a line, she was expected to dive under an enemy and surface on the other side just as the torpedo was exploded by striking her victim’s underwater hull.…”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…underwater hull. “At Mobile during trials, the Hunley stuck in the mud and drowned her entire crew. Nevertheless, the need for a weapon to break the blockade of Charleston was so urgent that the submarine was brought thither by rail. Here she sank out of control three more times, drowning nearly every member of her crew each time.• Finally Gen Beauregard, commanding the Confederate forces in the area, forbade her being operated submerged again. “In Feb 64 the Hunley, operating as a David, semi-submerged with a spar torpedo projecting from her bow, made an attack on the new screw sloop Housatonic.…”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…sloop Housatonic. She was observed, but before the sloop could open fire or get under way, the Hunley had rammed her torpedo into the ship’s hull. The Hunley and the Housatonic sank together. [Modern research differs].…”



Ironclads in Action

Ibid.

“…research differs] “Three weeks later another of the Charleston Davids struck the US screw steamer Memphis, a captured blockade runner, but the fuse had deteriorated and failed to detonate the charge. In Apr 64, a David made repeated attempts to torpedo US screw frigate Wabash, sister-ship of the Merrimac, but was defeated by heavy swells that almost flooded the tiny craft. “Most of the technological innovations attempted by the South were well conceived, but the lack of enough trained engineers and, above all, the lack of an adequate industrial base prevented much success. It was the misfortune of the South that it was compelled to fight in the first modern war—a war in which economic war potential was as important as personal bravery and skill in command.”


Three Navies: Green, Blue, and Brown

The American ironclads have revealed a future which the French Gloire and the British Warrior only hinted at.

The iconic battle between the Virginia and the Monitor caught the attention of the world the way that the Battle of Sinope had influenced professional naval observers.

It now remains to tell the tale of how our riverine or Brown Water Navy tightened the grip on the Confederate heartland and separated it from its western sister states.

And much of this Western navy was built right here in Cincinnati as our east end shipyards in Columbia and Tusculum turned from steamboats to gunboats.

On the Mississippi Vicksburg will be the tough nut to crack.

So that will require two other stories… jbp

To be continued

Sp 3 sess. 6 civil war 2

Education

Transcript of Sp 3 sess. 6 civil war 2