DK - The American Civil War

NAVAL DEVELOPMENTS

hoped to use a semi-submersible torpedo
boat, CSS David, to break the Union
stranglehold on the harbor. On the
night of October 5, the David attacked
the Goliath of the blockading squadrons,
USS New Ironsides, exploding 100lbs
(45kg) of gunpowder against her
starboard side. The damage was minor,
but more David-style craft, forerunners
of modern torpedo boats, followed.
Spar torpedoes were used by both
sides. On the night of October 27, 1864,
Lieutenant William B. Cushing and
14 volunteers from the U.S. Navy
entered the Roanoke River on a boat
fitted with a spar torpedo. Their target

was the CSS Albemarle, a Confederate

ironclad that had started driving off

the Union naval forces on the North

Carolina shore. With only a 6-ft

(1.8-m) draft, the Albemarle was able to

navigate rivers where no Union

warship could follow. At 3 a.m., braving

small-arms fire and the ironclad’s

roaring cannon, Cushing sank the

monster with his well-placed torpedo.

Underwater attack

The use of spar torpedoes dramatically

changed naval warfare, because they

gave small ships the ability to damage

or sink larger ones. Lookouts posted in

the tops of Union vessels blockading

Charleston harbor were always on the

alert for wakes on the surface of the

water from semi-submersibles.

In August 1863, a train pulled into

Charleston carrying, at General

Beauregard’s request, a flatcar with a

very special freight. Unveiled was a 40-ft

(12-m) submersible made from an old

locomotive boiler with a tapered bow

and stern added. Only 4ft (1.2m) in

diameter, she was a tight fit for her crew

of nine, one to steer and eight to crank

her propeller. Though several practice

dives proved fatal—one of them taking

the life of its inventor, Horace L.

Hunley—another crew volunteered,

commanded by Lieutenant George

Dixon. Christened CSS Hunley, her craft

had a spar torpedo attached to her snout.

When attacking, Hunley would stay just

above the surface of the water until she

closed in on her target. Then she would

use her rudders to submerge.

On the night of February 17, 1864,

lookouts on the screw sloop USS

Housatonic reported a slight wake

approaching. Their ship already had a

head of steam up and was just getting

underway to avoid the assailant, when

the barbed head of a 130-lb (59-kg)

spar torpedo lodged in her timbers. The

torpedo exploded, and in a few minutes

the Housatonic settled to the bottom in

shallow water. Only five of her crew

had been killed; most of the rest climbed

into the rigging to await rescue. From

AFTER

In the years following the war, the U.S. Navy

was cut from 626 to 60 vessels, and most of

the 65 ironclads were scrapped or sold. But

the surge of innovation driven by the war

spread to navies all over the world.

IRON AND STEEL

By the 1890s, the revolution in naval design had

reconfigured warships aross the globe. Gone were

masts and sails; vessels were now built entirely

of steel, strong as iron but lighter, and powered by

steam. Guns were housed in armored turrets or

protected by armored shields called “barbettes.”

TORPEDOES

Speedy torpedo boats, designed to attack the

lumbering new battleships, launched self-

propelled torpedoes, refined in Europe while

the Civil War was still being fought. Improved

naval mines became ubiquitous in blockade

operations and harbor defense, particularly after

the 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War.

SUBMARINES

Engineers continued to design new and

improved submarines throughout the rest of

the 19th century. But it was only in 1900 that a

submersible was deemed reliable enough to

be put into service by the U.S. Navy.

Cross-section of an ironclad

Most Union ironclads, including the Weehawken

(below), were shallow-draft gunboats. Since

none were very seaworthy, they were chiefly

deployed in rivers and bays, and along the coast.

TECHNOLOGY

The Hunley was not the Confederates’ first

attempt at submarine warfare. In October

1861 they used an unnamed underwater

craft, designed by engineer William Cheeney,

to try to sink USS Minnesota off the Florida

coast. The attack failed after the craft became

entangled in protective netting around the

warship. The Confederates also tested the

SUBMARINES

30-ft (9-m) Pioneer, but scuttled her as Union

forces approached New Orleans. On the

Union side, the 47-ft (14-m) USS Alligator

sank in a storm while being towed to her first

deployment. Major Edward Hunt designed a

one-man “submarine battery,” but died of

carbon monoxide poisoning while putting her

through trials at Brooklyn Navy Yard.

there they spied lantern signals from a

nearby vessel, but these vanished. The

Hunley, the world’s first submarine to

sink an enemy ship, had foundered for

some unknown reason and gone down

with all hands.

“... these cheap, convenient,

and formidable devices ...”

UNION ADMIRAL JOHN A. DAHLGREN, AFTER THE HUNLEY SANK THE HOUSATONIC

TORPEDO From the Latin word torpere,

meaning to stupefy, the term once applied

to all military and naval mines, presumably

because of their sudden shocks.