The variety of these existing ships led to an intense period of experimentation and innovation in an effort to gain the upper hand, reviving ancient tactics and producing the poor cousins of the famous ironclads, the less well-known tinclads, timberclads and cottonclads that fought just as hard. The construction of naval ships for river work began quickly on both sides, though both parties found it quicker to use existing ships modified for naval work. The plan was fine, but the north had no ships for an offensive river campaign and the south had none to mount a defense.
Seizing control of the Mississippi’s southern reaches was part of the Union’s grand plan to strangle the Confederacy through a coastal blockade and a two-pronged takeover of the Mississippi that would split the south and diminish its ability to wage war. These ships fought on an enormous maritime front, including the Gulf of Mexico and 700 miles of the Mississippi River as well as its great tributaries, most notably the Tennessee River, the Red River and the Yazoo River. While the ironclads were the war’s greatest contribution to naval architecture, their lesser-known cousins, the shallow-draft tinclads, timberclads and cottonclads, performed vital service for both sides. This process was far from smooth, however, and expediency and necessity fuelled innovation as much as improved technology. The wooden sailing ships armed with smoothbore, muzzle-loading guns were soon replaced by iron ships powered by steam engines and armed with rifled, breech-loading guns. Though Civil War battlefield tactics had difficulty in shaking off the influence of the Napoleonic wars, rapid change and innovation were hallmarks of the naval part of the Civil War from the beginning.
A Lecture Delivered to the Civil War Roundtable, Royal Canadian Military Institute, Toronto, February 5, 2020
0 kommentar(er)
