Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy

Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy PDF Author: George M. Brooke, Jr.
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1643364065
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
An inside look at the Confederacy's military science and technology Loaded with previously unavailable information about the Confederate Navy's effort to supply its fledgling forces, the wartime diaries and letters of John M. Brooke (1826–1906) tell the neglected story of the Confederate naval ordnance office, its innovations, and its strategic vision. As Confederate commander of ordnance and hydrography in Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War, Brooke numbered among the military officers who resigned their U.S. commissions and "went South" to join the Confederate forces at the onset of conflict. A twenty-year veteran of the United States Navy who had been appointed a midshipman at the age of fourteen, Brooke was a largely self-taught military scientist whose inventions included the Brooke Deep-Sea Sounding Lead. In addition to his achievements as an inventor, Brooke was a draftsman, diarist, and inveterate letter-writer. His copious correspondence about military and personal matters from the war yields detailed and often unexpected insights into the Confederacy's naval operations. Charged with developing a vessel that could break the Union blockade, Brooke raised the Merrimack, a wooden vessel scuttled by the Union Navy, and outfitted it with armor plates as the CSS Virginia. Brooke's papers trace his conception of the plan to create the first Confederate ironclad warship and offer insight into other innovations, revealing a massive amount of factual information about the Confederacy's production of munitions.

Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy

Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy PDF Author: George M. Brooke, Jr.
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1643364065
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Get Book

Book Description
An inside look at the Confederacy's military science and technology Loaded with previously unavailable information about the Confederate Navy's effort to supply its fledgling forces, the wartime diaries and letters of John M. Brooke (1826–1906) tell the neglected story of the Confederate naval ordnance office, its innovations, and its strategic vision. As Confederate commander of ordnance and hydrography in Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War, Brooke numbered among the military officers who resigned their U.S. commissions and "went South" to join the Confederate forces at the onset of conflict. A twenty-year veteran of the United States Navy who had been appointed a midshipman at the age of fourteen, Brooke was a largely self-taught military scientist whose inventions included the Brooke Deep-Sea Sounding Lead. In addition to his achievements as an inventor, Brooke was a draftsman, diarist, and inveterate letter-writer. His copious correspondence about military and personal matters from the war yields detailed and often unexpected insights into the Confederacy's naval operations. Charged with developing a vessel that could break the Union blockade, Brooke raised the Merrimack, a wooden vessel scuttled by the Union Navy, and outfitted it with armor plates as the CSS Virginia. Brooke's papers trace his conception of the plan to create the first Confederate ironclad warship and offer insight into other innovations, revealing a massive amount of factual information about the Confederacy's production of munitions.

Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy

Ironclads and Big Guns of the Confederacy PDF Author: John Mercer Brooke
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 9781570034183
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
His copious correspondence about military and personal matters from the war yields detailed and often unexpected insights into the Confederacy's naval operations."--BOOK JACKET.

Confederate Ironclads at War

Confederate Ironclads at War PDF Author: R. Thomas Campbell
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476676402
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Hampered by lack of materials, shipyards and experienced shipbuilders, even so the South managed to construct 34 iron-armored warships during the Civil War, of which the Confederate Navy put 25 into service. The stories of these vessels illustrate the hardships under which the Navy operated--and also its resourcefulness. Except for the Albemarle, no Confederate ironclad was sunk or destroyed by enemy action. Overtaken by events on the ground, most were destroyed by their own crews to prevent them from falling into Union hands. This account covers the design and construction and the engagements of the Confederate ironclads and describes the ingenuity and courage, as well as the challenges and frustrations of their "too little, too late" service.

Engines of Rebellion

Engines of Rebellion PDF Author: Saxon Bisbee
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817319867
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
The development of steam propulsion machinery in warships during the nineteenth century, in conjunction with iron armor and shell guns, resulted in a technological revolution in the world's navies. Warships utilizing all of these technologies were built in France and Great Britain in the 1850s, but it was during the American Civil War that large numbers of ironclads powered solely by steam proved themselves to be quite capable warships. This book focuses on Confederate ironclads with American built machinery, offering a detailed look at marine steam-engineering practices in both northern and southern industry prior to and during the Civil War. It gives a contextual naval history of the Civil War, the creation of the ironclad program, and the advent of various technologies. The author analyzes the armored warships built by the Confederate States of America that represented a style adapted to scarce industrial resources and facilities.

The CSS Arkansas

The CSS Arkansas PDF Author: Myron J. Smith, Jr.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786484853
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
While the Monitor and Merrimack are the most famous of the Civil War ironclads, the Confederacy had another ship in its flotilla that carried high hopes and a metal hull. The makeshift CSS Arkansas, completed by Lt. Isaac Newton Brown and manned by a mixed crew of volunteers, gave the South a surge of confidence when it launched in 1862. For 28 days of summer, the ship engaged in five battles with Union warships, falling victim in the end only to her own primitive engines. The saga of the CSS Arkansas represents the last significant Rebel naval activity in the war's Western theater.

The Ironclads

The Ironclads PDF Author: Frank R. Donovan
Publisher: New Word City
ISBN: 1612308929
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 99

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Book Description
The battle between the Confederate ship Merrimac and the Union’s Monitor at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on March 9, 1862, introduced the age of the ironclads and ended the dominance of wooden warships forever. This fascinating book shares the behind-the-scenes drama of both the battle and the development of the ships that transformed naval warfare and changed the course of the Civil War.

The Laird Rams

The Laird Rams PDF Author: Andrew R. English
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476682763
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
Built in Birkenhead, England, from 1862 to 1865, the "Laird rams" were two innovative armored warships intended for service with the Confederate Navy during the Civil War. The vessels represented a substantial threat to Union naval power, and offered the Confederacy a potential means to break the Union blockade of the Southern coastline. During 1863, the critical year of the Confederacy's last hope of recognition by the British and French, President Lincoln threatened war with Britain if the ships ever sailed under Confederate colors. Built in some secrecy, then launched on the River Mersey under intense international scrutiny, the ships were first seized, and then purchased by Britain to avoid a war with the United States. These armored warships were largely forgotten after the Admiralty acquired them. Historians rarely mention these sister warships--if referred at all, they are given short shrift. This book provides the first complete history of these once famous ironclads that never fired a shot in anger yet served at distant stations as defenders of the British Empire.

A History of Ironclads

A History of Ironclads PDF Author: John V. Quarstein
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614231559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
One of history's greatest naval engagements, the Battle of Hampton Roads, occurred on March 8 and 9, 1862. On the first morning, the Confederate ironclad the CSS Virginia, formerly known as the Merrimack, sank two Union wooden warships, proving the power of the armored vessels over the traditional sailing ships. The next morning, the Virginia engaged the Union ironclad USS Monitor to a draw in a battle that significantly altered naval warfare. It was the first engagement between ironclads and ushered in a new era of warship construction and ordnance. The 25, 000 sailors, soldiers and civilians who witnessed the battle knew then what history would soon confirm: wars waged on the waters would never be the same. The seemingly invincible Monitor and Virginia were experimental ships, revolutionary combinations of new and old technology, and their clash on March 9, 1862, was the culmination of over 2, 000 years of naval experience. The construction and combat service of ironclads during the Civil War were the first in a cascade of events that influenced the outcome of the war and prompted the development of improved ironclads as well as the creation of new weapons systems, such as torpedoes and submarines, needed to counter modern armored warships.

Ironclads and Columbiads

Ironclads and Columbiads PDF Author: William R. Trotter
Publisher: G.P Publications
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
There was more fighting along the coast of North Carolina then in all other parts of the state combined. The reason for this was simple: there were important strategic objectives to be won along the coast, and they were within easy striking distance of the main federal naval base at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. North Carolina's well protected coastline offered a perfect refuge for privateers who sailed for and captured so many union merchant vessels in the early days of the war that maritime insurance companies in the North went into a panic, forcing the government to mount an expedition against Cape Hatteras, North Carolina's coastal counties, and the state's coastal railroad systems, were vital to the feeding and resupply of Robert E. Lee's Army. And even after the tightening blockade and powerful federal assaults closed off the ports of Charleston, New Orleans, and Mobile, the city of Wilmington continued to provide a haven for the blockade runners. The city eventually became the most strategically important location in the entire Confederacy, more so even than Richmond itself. The campaign's that resulted from this strategic situation are exceptionally interesting since they foreshadow the amphibious campaigns of WW II. There was so much fighting along the sounds and rivers of North Carolina that the U. S. Navy ordered crash courses in those Civil War campaigns when it became involved in riverine warfare during the Vietnam conflict. In these pages, the reader will encounter such men as William Cushing, often referred to as "Lincoln's commando," who led raid after raid deep into Confederate territory and whose bravery was matched by his good luck; and handsome, gallant young William Lamb, a journalist by trade who designed and commanded Fort Fisher, the largest earthwork fortress in the world, and defended it heroically against the mightiest armada the U.S. Navy had ever launched to that point in its history. The story of the coastal war is one of frustration, missed opportunities for both sides, lopsided victories and heartbreaking defeats, illuminated at every turn by flashes of extraordinary bravery and tactical brilliance. This book tells the story in more detail than it has ever been told before.

Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad

Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad PDF Author: Ron Field
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1846038022
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
The Ironclad was a revolutionary weapon of war, the first modern, armoured, self-propelled warships. During the American Civil War the South used ironclads to protect their ports from the Northern blockade. Impressed with their superior resistance to fire and, the North developed its own rival fleet of ironclads. Eventually the two products of this modern arms race duelled at the battle of Hampton Roads in a clash that would change the face of naval warfare. Fully illustrated with cutting-edge digital artwork, rare photographs and first-person perspective gunsight views, this book allows the reader to discover the revolutionary and radically different designs of the two rival Ironclads – the Merrimac and USS Monitor – through an analysis of each ship's weaponry, ammunition and steerage.