Its status as a vital port so close to the Confederate capital in Richmond made it doubly vital. So the fledgling Confederate Navy felt understandably determined to break the blockade there. Without the industrial or shipbuilding capabilities of the north, however, there was no way they could beat the Union Navy with sheer numbers.
She only served a few years on active service before being decommissioned and put in reserve at the Norfolk Naval Base in early When Virginia seceded on April 17th of , the US sailors evacuating tried to sail the ship out of the Chesapeake.
She burned to the waterline and sank. By the end of May, however, the Confederate navy had salvaged and raised the wreck of the Merrimack. With most of her keel and underside intact, as well her steam engine and propellers, the remains of the ship could be repurposed. Several engineers working for Mallory suggested the hulk be used as the basis for his proposed ironclad and he approved. The hull was repaired and armored, the tent-like superstructure was built, and a ram was added to the bow.
Her armament consisted of ten guns, including six 9 inch cannons. Her armor plating was two inches thick. Under that was two solid feet of iron-reinforced pine. The Union Navy was by no means idle in its own strides towards naval innovation during these months. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles learned that the Confederates were working on an ironclad ship shortly after construction began and wanted to meet them in kind.
Once he received Congressional approval to begin constructing an ironclad of his own he put together a commission of three senior officers to do just that. The so-called Ironclad Board assembled in August of and accepted seventeen different design proposals before selecting a final three to fully support. Of those, the one was a particularly strange looking craft designed by Swedish-born engineer John Ericsson.
The whole vessel was based around a large revolving turret designed by another inventor named Theodore Timby. The ship floated so low in the water that the only real targets an enemy ship could even hit were that thickly armored turret and the also-armored pilot box from where she was steered.
And, perhaps most importantly, she was built fast. Ericsson promised he could build her in days if given approval. The Battle of Hampton Roads began on the morning of March 8th, That first day, as mentioned above, did not go well for the Union Navy.
But three of his five warships ran aground as they moved to attack, two of which remained stuck for the remainder of the battle. The first actual shots were exchanged between a Union tugboat and one of several Confederate gunboats supporting the Virginia. The battle heated up quickly from there.
In short order the Virginia rammed the frigate Cumberland , sinking her along with men of her crew. She then turned on the Congress , another frigate. The captain of the vessel, Lieutenant Joseph Smith, had purposefully run her aground to prevent her being rammed and sunk like the Cumberland. The author lives in Cheltenham , UK. Description: This landmark book documents the dramatic history of Civil War ironclads and reveals how ironclad warships revolutionized naval warfare.
Author John V. Quarstein explores in depth the impact of ironclads during the Civil War and their colossal effect on naval history. The Battle of Hampton Roads was one of history's greatest naval engagements.
Over the course of two days in March , this Civil War conflict decided the fate of all the world's navies. It was the first battle between ironclad warships, and the 25, sailors, soldiers and civilians who witnessed the battle vividly understood what history would soon confirm: wars waged on the seas would never be the same.
About the Author: John V. Quarstein is an award-winning author and historian. Description: William N. Still's book is rightfully referred to as the standard of Confederate Naval history. Accurate and objective accounts of the major and even minor engagements with Union forces are combined with extensive background information. This edition has an enlarged section of historical drawings and sketches. Still explains the political background that gave rise to the Confederate Ironclad program and his research is impeccable.
An exhaustive literature listing rounds out this excellent book. While strictly scientific, the inclusion of historical eyewitness accounts and the always fluent style make this book a joy to read. This book is a great starting point. Description: This is the story of the great vessels, the formidable warships, the epic ironclads early battleships , that changed forever naval ship design as well as naval warfare: the Monitor, the Merrimack later renamed the Virginia and it presents a fascinating animated reconstruction of their epic battle during the American Civil War.
Continued below The Battle of Hampton Roads, aka Duel of the Ironclads, which made the world's navies tremble as well as obsolete, is handsomely depicted in this video. Naval Warfare, and shipbuilding and design.
From Publishers Weekly: One of the most prominent European scholars of the Civil War weighs in with a provocative revisionist study of the Confederacy's naval policies. For 27 years, University of Genoa history professor Luraghi The Rise and Fall of the Plantation South explored archival and monographic sources on both sides of the Atlantic to develop a convincing argument that the deadliest maritime threat to the South was not, as commonly thought, the Union's blockade but the North's amphibious and river operations.
Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory, the author shows, thus focused on protecting the Confederacy's inland waterways and controlling the harbors vital for military imports. As a result, from Vicksburg to Savannah to Richmond , major Confederate ports ultimately were captured from the land and not from the sea, despite the North's overwhelming naval strength. Luraghi highlights the South's ingenuity in inventing and employing new technologies: the ironclad, the submarine, the torpedo.
He establishes, however, that these innovations were the brainchildren of only a few men, whose work, although brilliant, couldn't match the resources and might of a major industrial power like the Union. Nor did the Confederate Navy, weakened through Mallory's administrative inefficiency, compensate with an effective command system. Enhanced by a translation that retains the verve of the original, Luraghi's study is a notable addition to Civil War maritime history.
Includes numerous photos. By sea and by river: the naval history of the Civil War. Knopf; reprint, Da Capo, n. University of Alabama. Duel between the first ironclads. Doubleday, Durkin, Joseph T. Stephen R. Mallory: Confederate Navy chief. The complete encyclopedia of battleships: a technical directory of capital ships from to the present day.
Salamander Books. A history of the Confederate Navy. Annapolis , Md. Rizzoli, Divided waters: the naval history of the Civil War. Thomas ; reprint, Random House, History of the Confederate States Navy from its organization to the surrender of its last vessel; its stupendous struggle with the great Navy of the United States, the engagements fought in the rivers and harbors of the South and upon the high seas, blockade-running, first use of iron-clads and torpedoes, and privateer history.
Naval strategies of the Civil War: Confederate innovations and Federal opportunism. Harper's Weekly , April 12, , page Harper's Weekly , March 22, , page Revolving Turret — B. Smoke-pipe — C.
Pilot-house — Anchor Well — E. Rudder — F. Propeller — G. Iron Armor — H. Braces for Dock Beams — K. Water-line — L. Dahlgren Gun — M.
Harper's Weekly , March 29, , page Lieutenant Jeffers and Chief EngineerStimers; 2. Captain's Cabin; 3. Engine-room; 4.
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