The American Civil War occurred right when the armored
warship was in its infancy. Iron hulls, armor, steam propulsion, a multitude of experimental new weapons, and new higher-powered artillery coexisted with legacy systems such as wooden sailing ships. Tin-clad
riverboats were improvised from merchant steamers, tugs, and ferryboats. The tinclads mixed it up with ironclad casement gunboats (above) and mortar-carrying wooden sloops and schooners on the rivers, while bizarre European-built ironclad rams dodged Union steam frigates on the high seas. The Confederacy struggled against Union technological and industrial supremacy with cleverness and courage, but was progressively crushed by Union numbers
and dollars.
One example of this pattern was the Union victory at Vicksburg, the Confederacy's
great fortress on the Mississippi River (above). Commanding the waterfront from tall
bluffs along the riverbend, Rebel forts and batteries were poised to rain shell on any craft
daft enough to run the gauntlet. Union Admiral David Porter amassed a powerful
fleet of river ironclads, unarmored gunboats, and mortar boats to bombard the
town. This period print shows the flotilla running the forts on the night
of April 16, 1863, some 10 weeks before the fortress' fall. Unprotected or lightly armored vessels are seen lashed to the
armorclad "Pook Turtles", affording the vulnerable
ships some protection from Confederate fire -- a standard practice in Union
offensives, including New Orleans and Mobile Bay.
Blocking the Union's use of the river, Vicksburg held out against frontal
assault and siege until General Grant's army marched up from the rear after 100
days of fighting through the Mississippi bayou back country. Surrounded and
besieged, the city had no choice but to surrender on July 4, 1863: a great
birthday present for President Lincoln, at a time when his popularity was in the
tank. And, together with Gettysburg (which had happened that very month), the
Vicksburg defeat sounded the knell for the Rebellion.
In this section of Big, Bad Battleships, we examine the earliest American progenitors of the modern battleship, including single- and multi-turreted monitors, converted river steamboats, torpedo craft
and submarines, blockaders and blockade runners. To show the mix of vessels
caught up in the war, we have included sailing ships, unarmored blockade-running
cargo vessels, and wooden cruisers with dual sail and steam propulsion. Civil War operations were
a great improvisation for both sides, and served as a laboratory for new
technological approaches, many of them unsuccessful at this stage; some of them ruinously destructive after 40 or 50 more years' development.
For the most part, the Civil War was not a conflict on the high seas. Many of the
key campaigns took place in capturing Gulf and East Coast ports, and along the
interior rivers; the craft employed had to be
shallow draft and well adapted to maneuvering in the muddy floodwaters. One
recalls the harrowing tale of the Red River Expedition into northwest
Louisiana, when a Union ironclad fleet was marooned by falling water levels, and
had to be rescued by the Army Corps of Engineers; or the fiasco of Chickasaw
Bayou, when a squadron of Union ironclads was halted when overhanging willow became
entangled in the boats' propellers: several companies of Confederate troops
moved up and commenced firing just as divers went over the side to clear the
screws.
To be sure, there were a few ship-on-ship duels, most famously the
Alabama and the Kearsarge off the Channel
port of Cherbourg. However, the main thread of actions in the Civil War only
emphasizes the isolation of American naval developments. The Confederacy had
hoped to obtain advanced ironclad vessels in Europe, and indeed several were built
for them, as well as conventional commerce raiders (most notably the Alabama).
Firm, unrelenting Union intervention delayed or averted delivery of the most advanced
ships built in Continental yards, however, and the South was mainly left
with whatever its own limited industrial facilities could devise.
Given their limitations, it was an impressive effort. Confederate Navy
Secretary early on initiated construction of seagoing
ironclads for an offensive against the Union blockade; but soon changed his mind
when the deep-draft vessels (Virginia) proved unable to defend
the rivers against the northern fleet. The plan was quickly switched to building an entire fleet of smaller, lighter-draft ironclads for river and harbor defense. Standardized plans were drawn up by Director of Naval Construction John L. Porter and issued throughout the South, for local yards to construct as possible. These plans detailed casement ironclads in three sizes, all with the same general layout. Some 24 were actually built, although
only 9 of these saw combat. DNC Porter (no relation to David Dixon Porter) also
devised an unarmored gunboat design, again in three progressively larger
classes. Scores of these were turned out throughout the war, and added to the motley fleet of sidewheeler and tug conversions created on an ad hoc basis.
One common handicap of all the Southern vessels was weak and unreliable engines. With no machine shops able to actually produce new steam engines, the
Confederate builders were forced to convert paddle steamers or cannibalize
blockade runners or steam tugs for the engines to power their lumbering
warships. These engines were not up to moving the additional weight of armor and
guns, and were prone to frequent breakdown, unable to move their ships at
reasonable ramming speed. Curiously, the South did not have difficulty finding the
modern guns to arm their ironclads. Armor was often improvised; railroad iron was
frequently taken in its raw state and bolted to the wooden backing to make the
casements on Confederate boats. One such craft was the 160-foot Albermarle (above left), constructed in a cornfield near the Roanoke River in North Carolina, and armored with old nails and scrap iron from farms in the region laboriously melted down and re-cast. Notwithstanding its humble origins, the ship's armor performed as hoped, making her impervious to Union naval and shore artillery during her brief operational life.
One example of this pattern was the Union victory at Vicksburg, the Confederacy's great fortress on the Mississippi River (above). Commanding the waterfront from tall bluffs along the riverbend, Rebel forts and batteries were poised to rain shell on any craft daft enough to run the gauntlet. Union Admiral David Porter amassed a powerful fleet of river ironclads, unarmored gunboats, and mortar boats to bombard the town. This period print shows the flotilla running the forts on the night of April 16, 1863, some 10 weeks before the fortress' fall. Unprotected or lightly armored vessels are seen lashed to the armorclad "Pook Turtles", affording the vulnerable ships some protection from Confederate fire -- a standard practice in Union offensives, including New Orleans and Mobile Bay. Blocking the Union's use of the river, Vicksburg held out against frontal assault and siege until General Grant's army marched up from the rear after 100 days of fighting through the Mississippi bayou back country. Surrounded and besieged, the city had no choice but to surrender on July 4, 1863: a great birthday present for President Lincoln, at a time when his popularity was in the tank. And, together with Gettysburg (which had happened that very month), the Vicksburg defeat sounded the knell for the Rebellion.
In this section of Big, Bad Battleships, we examine the earliest American progenitors of the modern battleship, including single- and multi-turreted monitors, converted river steamboats, torpedo craft
and submarines, blockaders and blockade runners. To show the mix of vessels
caught up in the war, we have included sailing ships, unarmored blockade-running
cargo vessels, and wooden cruisers with dual sail and steam propulsion. Civil War operations were
a great improvisation for both sides, and served as a laboratory for new
technological approaches, many of them unsuccessful at this stage; some of them ruinously destructive after 40 or 50 more years' development.For the most part, the Civil War was not a conflict on the high seas. Many of the
key campaigns took place in capturing Gulf and East Coast ports, and along the
interior rivers; the craft employed had to be
shallow draft and well adapted to maneuvering in the muddy floodwaters. One
recalls the harrowing tale of the Red River Expedition into northwest
Louisiana, when a Union ironclad fleet was marooned by falling water levels, and
had to be rescued by the Army Corps of Engineers; or the fiasco of Chickasaw
Bayou, when a squadron of Union ironclads was halted when overhanging willow became
entangled in the boats' propellers: several companies of Confederate troops
moved up and commenced firing just as divers went over the side to clear the
screws.To be sure, there were a few ship-on-ship duels, most famously the Alabama and the Kearsarge off the Channel port of Cherbourg. However, the main thread of actions in the Civil War only emphasizes the isolation of American naval developments. The Confederacy had hoped to obtain advanced ironclad vessels in Europe, and indeed several were built for them, as well as conventional commerce raiders (most notably the Alabama). Firm, unrelenting Union intervention delayed or averted delivery of the most advanced ships built in Continental yards, however, and the South was mainly left with whatever its own limited industrial facilities could devise.
Given their limitations, it was an impressive effort. Confederate Navy
Secretary early on initiated construction of seagoing
ironclads for an offensive against the Union blockade; but soon changed his mind
when the deep-draft vessels (Virginia) proved unable to defend
the rivers against the northern fleet. The plan was quickly switched to building an entire fleet of smaller, lighter-draft ironclads for river and harbor defense. Standardized plans were drawn up by Director of Naval Construction John L. Porter and issued throughout the South, for local yards to construct as possible. These plans detailed casement ironclads in three sizes, all with the same general layout. Some 24 were actually built, although
only 9 of these saw combat. DNC Porter (no relation to David Dixon Porter) also
devised an unarmored gunboat design, again in three progressively larger
classes. Scores of these were turned out throughout the war, and added to the motley fleet of sidewheeler and tug conversions created on an ad hoc basis.One common handicap of all the Southern vessels was weak and unreliable engines. With no machine shops able to actually produce new steam engines, the
Confederate builders were forced to convert paddle steamers or cannibalize
blockade runners or steam tugs for the engines to power their lumbering
warships. These engines were not up to moving the additional weight of armor and
guns, and were prone to frequent breakdown, unable to move their ships at
reasonable ramming speed. Curiously, the South did not have difficulty finding the
modern guns to arm their ironclads. Armor was often improvised; railroad iron was
frequently taken in its raw state and bolted to the wooden backing to make the
casements on Confederate boats. One such craft was the 160-foot Albermarle (above left), constructed in a cornfield near the Roanoke River in North Carolina, and armored with old nails and scrap iron from farms in the region laboriously melted down and re-cast. Notwithstanding its humble origins, the ship's armor performed as hoped, making her impervious to Union naval and shore artillery during her brief operational life.
