Civil War Lesson Plans
Navies In The Civil War
The Civil War era marked a transitional period in which navies were switching from sail boats to steam powered boats. By the end of the Civil War, navies also transitioned from wooden ships to ironclads. At the start of the Civil War the Southern army had no navy, giving the North a strong advantage. Despite the fact that the South lacked a navy at the start of the war they quickly made up ground by attempting to acquire ships from wherever they could. Even though the North had roughly 90 ships at the beginning of the war about half of them were old and outdated needing repairs before they were considered battle ready. Other ships from their fleet were docked at foreign stations and would take time for them to even get back to the states.
The South saw a glimmer of hope when they were able to take over the North’s Norfolk naval yard in Virginia where the Merrimac was docked. The Merrimac was one of the North’s great steam frigates. When the North knew they were about to lose their naval yard they attempted to set fire to the Merrimac so the South could not use it against them. The Southern army was able to save the Merrimac, only allowing it to be partially burned. The Merrimac was in very poor condition after being burned, but the South brought in their engineers to save the ship. The newly re-engineered ship, rechristened the Virginia, was said to be the greatest of its kind. The ship was lined with steel and 2 feet of pitch pine and oak making it more combat resistant than almost any other ship in the world. Since armor piercing shells had yet to be invented, it was nearly impossible to seriously damage the armor of the Merrimac. The ship also had an armored pilot house and a 4 foot iron beak fastened to the front. It was said that only two ships in all of the navies in the world could even give her a fight. Despite how impenetrable the ship may have been it did have downfalls, like in its slow speed and lack of maneuverability.
At this point in the war, the North did not posses any ship that could do any real damage to the Merrimac. On the re-engineered Merrimac’s first day of action she destroyed 2 Union ships, the Congress and the Cumberland, and forced the Minnesota to retreat. As word quickly spread of the dominance of the Merrimac, the North was forced to create a ship to match the Merrimac’s power. The Union army created the Monitor, which was believed to be of equal power to the Merrimac. The Monitor, designed by Swedish-American John Ericsson, finally met the Merrimac on March 9, 1862. In the open water combat between the two ships neither boat won and neither boat received much damage. The Merrimac never destroyed another Union ship, but protected the James River in Virginia from the Union. The Merrimac and the Monitor sparked a new era of naval combat as many boats followed their example.