The Civil War Navy. By Kelsey Hayes

Transcription

1 The Civil War Navy By Kelsey Hayes

2 Topics * Growth of the Navy * Union s naval strategies * Northern Blockade * Ba;le of the Monitor and Merrimac * Commerce Raiders

3 Growth * Previous to the war, The Federal navy had about 90 ships, only 42 built for close combat * Navy became overwhelmingly Northern * South received only 373 of the navy s 1554 officers and a few of its 7600 seamen at start * Union navy grew by 600 percent to meet demands of the war * Union navy compromised more than 600 ships (civilian, passenger ferries) by 1865 * Steel mines and shipyards * The Bureau of Steam Engineering was added to the bureau system. * The Confederacy had few resources and began the war with no navy and few faciliwes to build one * Although lacked material resources, they succeeded in human resources

4 Secretaries of the Navy North Gideon Welles * Connec-cut poli-cian * Appointed Secretary of the Navy * Rebuilt disarrayed Navy * Opposed idea of blockade at first but was overruled by Lincoln and his implements of blockade and Anaconda Plan s-ll proved very effec-ve South Stephen Mallory * Florida Senator from 1850 to beginning of Civil War * Appointed chairman of the CommiNee on Naval Affairs * Appointed Secretary of the Navy in the administra-on of president Jefferson Davis * Contributed greatly to the incorpora-on of armor into warship construc-on and development of new naval technology

5 New Technology * Confederacy challenges Union s power in numbers by creawon and use of latest naval technology * Submarines: H.L Hunley, was an eight- man submarine armed with a bomb mounted on the end of 22- foot pole spar torpedo. Feb. 17, 1864 in the Charleston Harbor, the Hunley successfully sank the USS Housatonic before sinking itself. Led to the development of German U- Boats 50 years later * Torpedoes: (underwater mines) Mallory authorized Torpedoes to be planted in the mouths of harbors and rivers and near ports. Developed by Commodore Ma;hew Maury.

6 New Technology * Torpedo Boats: Half- submerged, cigar- shaped vessels carrying a contact bomb on a bow- spar. Developed for a;acking blockage ships. * Ironclad warships: Built of heavy Wmbers covered by iron plawng, o`en four inches thick. Included development of steam powered ships, this improvement changed future of naval warfare. Ships gained freedom to maneuver against winds and currents, the extra power also allowed for ships to carry heavier guns and armor. This design had been seen in Europe around the 1850s.

7 River Wars * Main strategies for both sides * Mississippi River campaigns- Efforts and acwons of Union Navy and Army to take control of the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers. * Aided by Navy gunboats and river ironclads. * Naval dominawon of waters allowed an upper hand in war on land. Armies could use rivers for supply routes, fast infantry transport, and a;ack of enemy posiwon.

8 River Wars * Development of river gun boats were built to support Ulysses S. Grant s army * Flat- bo;om, steam- driven barges with heavy Wmbered sides, built for the shallower waters of rivers * Union Admiral David G. Farragut s (New Orleans, Louisiana) squadron and Ulysses S. Grant s squadron met in the Mississippi River. Seized Vicksburg, Mississippi, Port Hudson, and led to the South yielding command of Mississippi River to the Union.

9 Union Strategies: Anaconda Plan * Relied heavily on the concept of sea supremacy * SWff blockade of Southern seaports * Advance along the line of the Mississippi River (River Wars) * Goals: strangle the Confederate economy and split their nawon apart

10 Union Strategies: Blockade * Union s first naval goal was the blockade of the Southern coasts and ports. * April 19, Lincoln s proclamawon of blockage against confederate ports. * Strategy was to cut off Southern trade with other countries and prevent the sale of co;on (Confederacy s primary source of income). * Union wanted to secure bases under Northern operawon in Southern ports and forts. * the Union began a series of a;acks on port ciwes like Ha;eras, North Carolina and Port Royal, South Carolina.

11 Union Strategies: Blockade * Roughly 300 miles in length * 95% of the South s co;on trade plummeted during the war * Blockade runners were a small group of Southern sailors who sailed goods in and out of Southern ports to conwnue trade with countries outside the blockade * The Union blockade failed to stop the majority of ships that tested it * Roughly 1000 to 1300 foreign vessels passed unharmed * 1862 the Union navy had posiwoned a fleet off the coast of the South s most valuable ports * Blockade became an obstacle to rebel trade * Made southern inlets, ports, and bays dangerous for trade

12 Blockade: Lincoln Proclamation * April 19 th, 1861, six days a`er the fall of Sumter, President Lincoln issued a proclamawon declaring the blockade of the Southern States from South Carolina to Texas. On April 27th the blockade was extended to Virginia and North Carolina. * "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 NaWons 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 a;empt 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 a;empt 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."

13 Blockade: Lincoln Proclamation * Origin: ProclamaWon by President Abraham Lincoln. April 19 th, 1861 * Purpose: Declare a warning to the Confederacy of the Union s upcoming acwons. * Value: Shows Union s efforts to maintain organized war efforts to show their power and responsibility. Wanted show opposite acwons than the rebellious tacwcs of the South. * LimitaWon: Very edited because it is a public statement on behalf of a country, and the North did not want to cause more irrawonal conflict with the South. Biased toward views of Union and what they believe is best for the nawon.

14 Blockade: Trent Affair * November 8, 1861, Charles Wilkes, a U.S. Navy Officer, captured two Confederate envoys aboard the BriWsh mail ship, the Trent. * Great Britain accused the United States of violawng BriWsh neutrality, creawng a diplomawc crisis between the United States and Great Britain during the Civil War. * Seward and Lincoln agreed to release the prisoners, diffusing the diplomawc crisis. * Confirmed the BriWsh were willing to defend their posiwon of neutrality in the American Civil War, a posiwon that both the Union and the Confederacy had hoped to change.

15 Blockade: Outcome and International Trade * 1,504 ships were brought in during the war, of which 210 were steamers. * 355 vessels were burned, sunk, driven on shore, or someway destroyed, of which 85 were steamers. * Value of lost or damaged vessels and cargo was approximately thirty- one million dollars. * Of property destroyed or captured during the Civil War, the larger part suffered in consequence of the blockade. * Greatly affected the economy of the South. ExportaWon of co;on fell by nearly 95%, the government was deprived of war revenues, and people of means of existence. * There was a negawve impact on the economies of other countries due to texwle manufacturing areas in Britain and France that depended on Southern co;on. * Caused periods of high unemployment, and French wine, brandy and silk markets suffered.

16 The Monitor and The Merrimac * First Confederate ironclad began as a Union cruiser, the Merrimac. Captured by the Southerners, everything above the waterline was replaced with heavy Wmbers covered by four inches of iron plawng and renamed the Virginia. * Union met the challenge of the Merrimac by invenwng their own ironclad, the Monitor, which was mostly underwater. Protected by eight inches of iron and had a flat deck with a circular housing carrying two guns. This was the first rotawng gun turret. * March 9, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia meet at Hampton Roads * Hours of fighwng reached a stalemate. Neither ships had the capability to pierce the iron armor of the other.

17 Monitor and Merrimac Effects on Europe * Ba;le between the Monitor and the Merrimac had li;le effect on the outcome of the war, but the power and hardiness of the ships displayed at Hampton Roads changed the way ships were built. * The United States Navy and navies in Europe abandoned the building of wooden ships and began building ironclads, developing a new era of iron warships. * When Europe heard of this new ironclad ship warfare they knew their fleet of wooden warships would be useless. Rebuilding of large Navies, like England s and France s, would be very costly to their economy

18 Confederate Navy James Bulloch Raphael Semmes * Commander in Confederate Navy. Chief foreign agent in Great Britain. * Oversaw purchase and construcwon of warships in Liverpool, England. * Established business with England selling co;on smuggled past the blockade which provided steady funds for the Confederacy * Rear admiral, confederate Navy. Commander of the newly modified CSS Sumter. * Semmes successfully was one of the first to breach the blockade of New Orleans. * Oversaw construcwon of CSS Alabama which he conwnued his career on. * Excellent commerce raider, throughout career damaged/captured approx. 52 union merchant vessels.

19 Blockade Runners * Consisted of privateer ships, commerce raiders, and steam cargo ships. * Main purpose was to smuggle trade goods, such as tobacco and co;on, and mail in and out of the federal blockade. * Less effecwve purpose of a;acking and raiding Union vessels * Most were privately or foreign owned.

20 Privateers * Civilian captains that were authorized by the Confederacy to raid Union shipping. * These privateers were not paid by the government but where allowed to keep any vessel and cargo they seized. * Desirable occupawon during the early war. * Li;le help to the war effort * Difficult to sell prizes (seized cargo), Union blockade wouldn t allow them back to southern ports to sell goods, fuel, or get supplies. Foreign ports didn t support privateers because they refused to take sides.

21 Commerce Raiders * Vessels that were sent to a;ack Union merchant ships. * TacWc of asymmetric warfare- difference in military power, strategies, and tacwcs. * IntercepWng Union trading ships to burn or seize their ships rather than capture cargo. * Manned by Naval personnel, Captains and crews were paid. * Increased Northern insurance premiums, many merchants would have to ship goods in foreign ships and pull Union warships off duty. * About half of the Northern merchant ships were captured, sunk, or sold to foreigners.

22 Bibliography * Beck, Tim. The Monitor and the Merimac and Their Effects. 23 July Essay. * "The Blockade of Confederate Ports, Milestones - Office of the Historian." U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept <h;ps://history.state.gov/milestones/ /blockade>. * Civil War. Council on Foreign RelaWons, n.d. Web. 24 Sept <h;p:// warfare- and- logiswcs/warfare/navy.html>. * Jensen, Richard. "1.1861: The War at Sea: Blockade and Diplomacy." Civil War Part N.p., Sept Web. <h;p://wgger.uic.edu/~rjensen/cw- 1.htm#5>. * "March 9, 1862 The Monitor and Merrimac Face Off in Ba;le of Hampton Roads." The Learning Network. New York Times, 9 Mar Web. 24 Sept <h;p://learning.blogs.nywmes.com/2012/03/09/march the- monitor- and- merrimac- face- off- in- ba;le- of- hampton- roads/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0>. * McPherson, James M. "10., 12., 13." BaLle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford UP, Print. * "The Mississippi Is Opened." H- Net Reviews. MarWn Johnson, Feb Web. 24 Sept <h;p:// net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=31905>. * Murphy, David. "Naval Strategy During The American Civil War." Air University Research Template: A Tutorial (1999): n. pag. Web. <h;p:// * "Raphael Semmes." Civil War Trust. Council on Foreign RelaWons, n.d. Web. 24 Sept <h;p:// semmes/raphael- Semmes.html>. * Soley, James. "Blockade!" Civil War Trust. Council on Foreign RelaWons, n.d. Web. 24 Sept <h;p:// hub/navy- history/blockade.html>. * "The Trent Affair, Milestones - Office of the Historian." U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept <h;ps://history.state.gov/milestones/ /trent- affair>.