Admiral Franklin Buchanan, CSN

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Sea Power and Maritime Affairs
Lesson 5 The Civil War, 1861-1865 Two Navies
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Learning Objectives

• Comprehend the role of the Union Navy in the
  strategy for the defeat of the Confederacy.
• Comprehend the role of the Confederate Navy in
  the strategy for the defeat of the Union.
• Know the reasons for vital importance of
  acquisition of European allies in the Souths
  Naval Strategy.
• Know the innovations in naval weapons and
  technology that emerged during the Civil War.

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Remember our Themes!

• The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign Policy
• Interaction between Congress and the Navy
• Interservice Relations
• Technology
• Leadership
• Strategy and Tactics
• Evolution of Naval Doctrine

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Background of the War
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War between the States

• Dispute between slave and free states over status
  of western territories.
• Missouri Compromise - 1820.
• Kansas-Nebraska Act - 1854.
• Dred Scott Decision - 1857.
• Southern states secede after Lincoln elected in
  1860.
• Confederate States of America established - Feb
  1861.
• Status of federal territory in the Confederacy in
  question.
• Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina
• Attacked by Confederate forces on April 12, 1861.

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Fort Sumter
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Naval Comparison
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A Navy Divided

• David Glasgow Farragut
• David Dixon Porter
• John Ericcson
• John Dahlgren
• Charles Wilkes
• Samuel F. DuPont

• Franklin Buchanan
• Matthew Fontaine Maury
• Raphael Semmes

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Balance of Naval Power

• North South
• Naval Yards 4
• Ship Builders 4
• Industrial Base 4
• Number of Ships 4
• Leadership 4

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Common Operational HeritageUnion and Confederate
Navies

• War of 1812 Coastal defense and commerce
  raiding
• Fighting from an inferior position against an
  enemy that has command of the sea.
• 1815-1846 Global deployments
• Protection of American maritime commerce
  overseas.
• 1846-1848 Mexican-American War
• U.S. Navy controls the seas throughout the war.
• Ports established on the Pacific Coast.

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Naval Comparison

• The Confederate Navy
• Inferior naval strength.
• U.S. Navy traditions prior to the
  Mexican-American War - Defensive.
• Coastal defense.
• Commerce raiding (Guerre de course).
• The Union Navy
• Superior naval strength built up throughout the
  war.
• Royal Navy traditions and U.S. Navy traditions in
  the Mexican-American War - Offensive.
• Establish control of sea lines of communication.
• Blockade of enemy coast.
• Power projection through amphibious assault.

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Diplomacy
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Diplomacy for the North

• Keep Great Britain truly neutral
• Reconcile the blockade of Southern ports with
  British freedom of trade.
• Problem Strong pro-Confederacy sentiment in
  important segments of British policy-making
  elites.

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Diplomacy for the South

• Win British recognition and naval aid.
• Problems
• War is viewed as a rebellion - not a conflict
  between sovereign states.
• Outcome of the war is uncertain.
• Diplomatic inexperience and a weak State
  Department.
• Fallacy of the "King Cotton" thesis.
• Slavery
• 1861- The Trent Affair
• Union Navy violates neutral rights of British
  ship.

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Outcome of Diplomacy

• Ultimately a Failure
• Naval Agent James Bulloch gets that aid
• - Commerce raiders (Alabama, Florida,
  Shenandoah)
• - Blockade Runners
• - Laird rams (clearly warships blockade
  breakers)
• Battle of Antietam (September 1862), Emancipation
  Proclamation, and Charles F. Adams protests end
  aid.

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Strategy

• 19 June 1864

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Union Naval Strategy

• Part of General Winfield Scotts master Anaconda
  Plan for victory.
• Blockade the entire Confederate coast.
• Capture Southern ports for coal, water, food
  bombardment and amphibious assaults.
• Control of Mississippi River.
• Vital line of communication for Confederacy.
• Cut off Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.
• Riverine operations in western areas.
• Combined Army-Navy operations against Confederate
  forces.
• Union Army -- Capture Confederate capital at
  Richmond.

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Confederate Naval Strategy

• Part of overall strategy of Attrition Warfare.
• Army will defend territory and threaten
  Washington.
• Coastal defense
• Army forts and new naval weapons systems.
• Blockade-running
• Attempt to continue commercial trade with Europe.
• Operations hurt by Southerners desires for
  luxury goods.
• Union blockades increasing effectiveness
  increases profits.
• Commerce raiding
• Successful cruises divert Union ships from
  blockade duty.
• Privateers (1861)
• Declaration of Paris - 1856.
• Unable to secure prize courts (sovereignty
  problems).

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Naval Administration in the North

• Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles
• Rapid and massive ship-building program.
• Only 42 ships at the beginning of the war.
• 264 commissioned by December, 1861
• Convened Ironclad Board, August 1861, to combat
  Virginia

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UnionSecretaryof theNavyGideon Welles
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Naval Administration in the South

• Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory
• Confederacy issues letters of marque to
  privateers.
• Attempts to use new technology to gain advantage.
• Conversion of older ships to armored ironclads.
• Re-emergence of the ram as a naval weapon.

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Naval Administration in the South (contd)

• James Bulloch attempts to gain British aid.
• Coordinates construction of warships in Great
  Britain.
• Questions of legality for a neutral power (Great
  Britain)
• Antietam (September 1862), Emancipation
  Proclamation, and Union protests end aid.

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ConfederateSecretaryof theNavyStephen Mallory
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Naval Operations and Important Battles
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Early Naval Operations

• Norfolk Navy Yard
• Largest naval base and arsenal in the United
  States.
• Captured by Confederate forces on 21 April.
• USS Merrimack scuttled by retreating Union
  forces.
• Large number of guns captured by Confederates.
• Union blockade of the Confederacy
• Paper Blockade needs to become real as soon as
  possible.
• Forward bases required for an effective blockade.
• Amphibious operations launched to seize bases in
  the South.

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Battle of Port Royal

• Attempt to establish first Union base on
  Confederate territory at Port Royal Sound -- 7
  November 1861.
• Commodore Stephen F. DuPont
• Superior naval gunfire
• Directed against Confederate forts defending the
  Sound.
• Confederates abandon forts.
• Union soldiers and Marines land unopposed.
• Other Union amphibious operations will resemble
  Port Royal operation.

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USS Port Royal
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Battle of Hampton Roads

• The Monitor and the Merrimack

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CSS Virginia

• USS Merrimack raised at Norfolk.
• Iron armor and ram added by Confederate Navy.
• Renamed Virginia and commanded by Franklin
  Buchanan.
• Defeats conventional Union ships on 8 March 1862.
  

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Franklin BuchananConfederate States
NavyCommanding OfficerofCSS Virginiaat
theBattle of Hampton Roads.
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USS Monitor

• Welles Ironclad Board
• John Ericcsons Monitor
• Highly armored with low freeboard.
• Single turret mounting two Dahlgren guns.
• Moved to Norfolk area to engage Virginia.
• Pounded each other for four hours
• Tactical draw but a strategic Union victory -
  Confederate Navy unable to break the blockade of
  Norfolk.

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USS Monitor versus CSS Virginia

• 9 March 1862

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John Ericcson

• Monitor design is improved and used to
  produce large numbers of ships for the Union Navy
  necessary for the assault of Confederate coasts
  and ports.

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Three Theaters

• Great Inland Rivers
• Mississippi River Basin
• Vicksburg
• Mobile Bay
• Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
• Fort Fisher
• Blue Water
• CSS Alabama

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Inland River Campaigns

• Combined Union Army - Navy offensives
• Goal Control of the Mississippi River
• Navy gunboats and transports used to support Army
• Union forces advance down Tennessee and
  Cumberland Rivers to the Mississippi

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Capture of New Orleans

• Flag Officer David G. Farragut commanding
• Commander David Dixon Porter
• Tried to mortar bomb Fort Jackson and St. Philip
  into submission
• knocked a whole in the wall
• Farragut charged through and took the city
• Congress makes him an Admiral

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Mortar Boats
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Siege of Vicksburg

• Vicksburg the big obstacle to dominance of the
  Mississippi
• Porter ferried Grants troops across to the east
  bank of the river, south of the fort
• Grant takes the fort from the rear
• Surrender on 4 July 1863
• Naval support gunfire, troop transport, and
  logistical reinforcement

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Siege of Vicksburg
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David Dixon Porter

• Siege of Vicksburg

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Battle of Mobile Bay

• Union fleet commanded by David Glasgow Farragut.
• Confederate fleet commanded by Franklin Buchanan.
• Entrance to Mobile Bay heavily defended.
• Torpedo buoys placed in entrance to the Bay.
• Guns of Fort Morgan defend only open channel.
• Union fleet outnumbers and outguns the
  Confederate fleet waiting in Mobile Bay.
• Farragut positions monitors between the rest of
  his fleet and Fort Morgan.
• Brooklyns captain stops and blocks the channel.
• Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!

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Torpedo

• Wooden keg filled with black powder with a
  contact fuse anchored in port channels.

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DavidGlasgowFarragut

• Battle
• of
• Mobile Bay

• Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

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Battle of Mobile Bay

• 5 August 1864

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Fort Fisher

• The seaward protector of Wilmington, NC
• railhead to Richmond supplies Lees Army
• Highly-defended by Confederate guns.

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Fort Fisher

• Combined Union Army-Navy operation.
• Union fleet commanded by David Dixon Porter.
• First assault fails - Christmas 1864.
• Second Assault
• Sailors and Marines attack the fort with Army
  forces.
• Only successful amphibious assault against a
  heavily defended fort.
• Heavy, constant, targeted naval gunfire necessary
  for success.

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Confederate Commerce Raiders

• Highly successful in the disruption of Union
  maritime commerce.
• Captain Raphael Semmes
• CSS Sumter
• CSS Alabama
• Captures 68 Union vessels.
• Sunk at Cherbourg, France in duel with USS
  Kearsarge.

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CaptainRaphael Semmes

• CSS Alabama

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CSS Alabama - Commerce Raiding Route
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CSS Alabama
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Raphael Semmes
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Tactical Trends in the Civil War

• Introduction of ironclads
• Strengths Heavily armored for coastal assault.
• Weaknesses Low mobility on the open ocean.
• Question of a fleet's ability to suppress coastal
  fortifications unanswered.
• Appreciation for combined (Army-Navy) operations.
• Proper planning and coordination essential for
  success.

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Overall Technological Advances
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Technological Innovation

• North Monitor Class
• Combination of steam, screw, armor, and a gun
  turret.
• Large numbers built.
• Dahlgren Guns effective at close range.
• Gives Union Navy the advantage on coastal and
  inland waterways.
• South
• CSS Virginia -- Steam power and iron armor.
• The Davids
• CSS Hunley - submarine.
• Torpedoes
• Laird rams.

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CSS Hunley
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Conclusions

• Decline of U.S. Merchant Marine due in large to
  the obsolescent sailing vessels used.
• Northern success in application of British-like
  offensive naval warfare
• PLUS
• Failure of Southern commerce raiding to win the
  war at sea QUESTION
• Will American naval officers still regard
  commerce raiding as the proper strategy in time
  of war ???????
• The Alabama Claims cause a lasting diplomatic
  debate with Great Britain.

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Conclusions

• Union blockade sets a precedent that that Woodrow
  Wilson finds inconvenient in 1914-1917.
• Joint Navy-Army Operations reach an unprecedented
  level of high efficiency on the Mississippi
  River.
• Joint Ops reach high point in the second amphib
  landing at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, closing
  down the confederacys last open port supporting
  R. E. Lees Army.

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Discussion

• Next Time Developments of Naval Technology and
  Strategy