navl operation amer cival war essays

navl operation amer cival war essays NAVAL OPERATIONS DURING THE CIVIL WAR At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, there was little reason to suspect that the United States Navy would play a very big role in the war. The Confederate Navy had absolutely no navy, nor did they have the ability to create one. The south did not contain a single plant that could create a marine engine. (Carrison, page #17) The government of the Confederate States got underway in the spring of 1861, totally unprepared from a naval standpoint to uphold the independence it had declared. (Confederate Forces Afloat, page #1) The Confederacy lacked the adequate means to conduct an offensive of defensive war. (http://sunsite.unc.edu/ page 1a) They needed ships to defend its long coastline and inland waterways, to carry war to its northern shores, or to conduct the foreign trade, vital to its existence. To this bleak outlook was added but limited hope to acquiring or constructing a navy. Nevertheless, inspired determination and ingenuity evinced particularly by the more than 300 able officers who resigned from the United States Navy to support the southern cause. These men culminated in the rapid appearance of many varied types of forces afloat under the Confederate flag. (http://sunsite.unc.edu/ page 2a) The States Navy provided the foundation for the events to follow. The seceding states confiscated small United States ships, such as revenue cutters, coast survey ships, and lighthouse tenders. They also purchased others from northern owners as well as southern owners. They quickly started building additional vessels better suited for warfare. (http://sunsite.unc.edu page #2a) Also, the states that seceded automatically took with them the naval forces they had already accumulated. As the war went on, the confederacy created a better defense for their major ports, inland waterways, and the souths vast coastline. The better defense included the ironclads and th...