All About Ironclads and the Battle of Hampton Roads (The Union's Cheesebox on a Raft VS The Confederation’s Upside-Down Bathtub) Have you heard of the term ‘Ironclads’? Probably not, due to it being a term not often used in modern day. Ironclads are, in fact, ships reinforced, or even made, with iron (hence the name). Modern day officers describe these ships as ‘common battleships’ or ‘old timers’, but about 155 years ago, ironclads were the most powerful and feared warships of the sea. At the time
IRONCLADS OF THE CIVIL WAR The book I read is called IRONCLADS OF THE CIVIL WAR. When you think of the Civil War you think of on land battles, but there were also many battles in the water. The Civil War introduced the Ironclads, which are huge ships made of iron with no sails and very destructive. The first built and launched ironclad was in 1855 and it was named the Merrimac. Europe just starting building ironclads and sent her to Norfolk. The Merrimac was still there when Virginia seceded from
The Battle of Hampton Roads was the first battle between ironclad warships. It was a navy battle between the Union Monitor and the Confederate CSS Virginia. This battle was fought on March 8-9, 1862 and lasted two days. The Battle of Hampton Roads is also known as the Battle of Ironclads and the Monitor vs. Merrimack. This took place at Swell’s point, which was a peninsula in Norfolk, Virginia located at the port of Hampton Roads. The Battle of Hampton Roads was fought because the Confederates wanted
American Technological Advancements of the Civil War The Civil War had many large technological advancements that would greatly evolve warfare. The war introduced the first ironclad ships, the first repeating rifles and carbines, and the first metallic rifle and pistol cartridges. The military didn't solely rely on this new technology, however. Older weapons and other tools were still trusted, such as paper cartridges and smoothbore muskets. Before 1860, the government of the United States provided
The Civil War consisted of many legendary battles over the soil of the United and Confederate States of America, which will be retold for generations in history books. Although these land battles were indeed great, the concept of this paper will be the Naval warfare of the Civil War, paying certain attention to the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac. Neither the North nor the South was prepared for Naval activities at the beginning of the war. In order to better prepare the Navy for war
A-Plan of the Investigation The focus of this investigation will be on the answering of the question “To what extent did the invention and innovation of new weaponry during the 19th century affected the American Civil War?”. The most prevalent weapons of the time will be described, along with the major weapons manufacturers of the period leading to the Civil War. Multiple military innovations will be looked at and their implications on warfare will be discussed, considering how many weapons were
made a stable, strong navy a crucial factor of a regime’s longevity. A Depiction of a British Ship of the Line at the Battle of Trafalgar (Turner, The Battle of Trafalgar) Prior to the second half of the 19th century, the premiere style of western warships was little different from the galleons of the Early Modern Era. Perhaps the paragon of 18th and early 19th century shipbuilding was the British ship of the line. A first-rate ship of the line could be equipped with over 100 guns, and a crew of 700-850
John Paul Jones The Bonhomme Richard vs. The HMS Serapis 	John Paul was born in the small fishing village of Arbigland, Scotland on July 6, 1747. To his parents John Paul and Jean MacDuff he was the fourth child. They had seven children but unfortunately all but two died in infancy. The family was originally from Fife but John Paul's father had taken the family and moved to Arbigland where William Craik, the owner of a large estate their had met him and hired him to be his gardener. John Paul
The United States of America has been involved in many different conflicts, foreign and domestic, popular and unpopular, spanning across four centuries and all corners of the globe. From the warm coastal waters of the American homeland to the atolls of the Pacific, from the winding inland rivers of Vietnam to the chokepoint at the Strait of Hormuz, American sailors have valiantly stood up to defend America’s interests at home and abroad. The Navy has had to continuously update its vessels and technologies
The last battle of the Bismarck changed the tides during World War II. The Bismarck was Germany’s most famous battleship during World War Two, and was sunk on May 27, 1941. The Bismarck had already sunk the battleship HMS Hood before being sunk herself. For many, the end of the Hood and Bismarck symbolized the end of the time when battleships were the dominant force in naval warfare, to be replaced by submarines and aircraft carriers and the advantages these ships gave to naval commanders. The Bismarck
The Commanding Officer’s Moral Dilemma United States Military Officers from all services are trained in military tactics, standards, and values. One of the most important lesson they are taught is the health and welfare of their troops. Commanding Officers (COs) hold the lives of thousands of service men and women in their hands, and their decisions directly affect the safety and well-being of subordinates. The moral dilemma to risk the lives of many to save a few, or its opposite, to save the lives
since they had more fleets, warships, resources, and shipyards. The South had less resources, fleets and shipyards than the North had. However, the South’s latest technologies like Ironclads made it easy to use their resources to their fullest potential. Even though ironclads had been introduced in Europe in the 1850’s, the Union Navy's warships were still
join “USS Passaic and USS Montauk for a joint Army-Navy expedition, where she would join the blockade off Charleston.” Aforementioned, the USS Monitor’s river combat features such as the low freeboard and its heavy revolving gun turret made the ironclad warship vulnerable to the high tides of the ocean. On an unfaithful day of 31 December 1862, the USS Monitor, towed by the USS Rhode Island, was taking in a copious amount of water during a heavy storm. Captain John Bankhead of the USS Monitor immediately
The Savannah Campaign was one of the many battles waged by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman in his total war concept to destroy and devastate the Confederacy’s support. With the destruction of the rail and commercial center at Atlanta, General Sherman set his sights on Savannah with an intent to further cripple the state and ensure Union victory. In order to accomplish this task, there was one obstacle that his forces must overcome. This obstacle was Fort McAllister, a massive earthwork whose
were even more deadly. And rifles that used minie` balls were even better. Minie` balls were bullets with hollow bases that expands upon firing. Ironclads were the best way to protect yourself at sea. An ironclad is a warship that is covered with iron. They were much better than the wooden ships because they could withstand greater blows. The ironclads had two large cannons located at the top of the ship that were rotating on a turret so that they could fire in all directions. Doctor Richard Gatling
The Anaconda Plan At the onset of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln met with his generals to devise a strategy by which the rebellious states of the Confederacy could be brought back into the Union. General Winfield Scott, commanding general of the Union army, proposed a plan of battle that became known as the Anaconda Plan. General Winfield Scott, commanding general of the Union Army From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum General Scott, a native Virginian, believed that the majority
Many historians debate the origins of modern warfare. Though they concur on some aspects regarding events, trends, eras, and some elements of the definition of modern warfare, they are mostly divided along fault lines of particular definitions and conflicts. This text will focus on the views presented by four authors in three articles. In “Military Developments of World War I”, David T. Zabecki argues that World War I was the original modern war by chronoligcally presenting developments that led
Introduction/Childhood Perhaps the most noticeable part of David Farragut's life is his career in the a Civil War as a courageous navy officer. Not only that, but he played an important role in the Battle of Louisiana, Vicksburg and Mobile Bay. His famous line, "Damn the torpedoes!" is remembered by naval officers as a courageous Farragut struggles to navigate torpedo infested waters at the Battle of Mobile Bay. An officer from a young age, Farragut is what any navy desires: a smart, brave, and loyal
Fort Sumter was first built in the wake of the War of 1812 (1812-1815), which had highlighted the United States’ lack of strong coastal defenses. Named for Revolutionary War general and South Carolina native Thomas Sumter, Fort Sumter was one of nearly 50 forts built as part of the so-called Third System, a coastal defense program implemented by Congress in 1817. The three-tiered, five-sided fort’s coastal placement was designed to allow it to control access to the vital Charleston Harbor. While
The Civil War was a period of great social and political change. It was additionally a period of great mechanical change. Inventers and military men conceived new sorts of weapons, for example, the rehashing rifle and the submarine, which always showed signs of change the way that wars were battled. Significantly more vital were the advancements that did not particularly need to do with the war, similar to the railroad and the broadcast. Advancements like these did not simply change the way individual’s