The Confederacy also had the first submarine of modern design. Built in 1863 at Mobile, the H. L. Hunley was named for its inventor. In the process of its trial runs, the thirty-five-foot vessel sank four times and drowned as many crews. Nevertheless, the Hunley was borne overland to Charleston, S. C., to campaign against a fleet of Federal blockaders. On the night of February 17, 1864, the little submarine torpedoed and sank the Federal warship, Housatonic. But the Hunley and its fifth crew of seven men perished in the explosion.
This Official U. S. Navy photograph shows the Confederate torpedo boat David aground in Charleston harbor. Semi-submersible, the David is often called a submarine.
In addition to the submarine, Confederates also developed the water mine and the torpedo boat. The latter was a small vessel, propelled by a steam engine. It drifted along the surface of the water and attacked enemy ships with a torpedo suspended from a long spar. The first of these torpedo boats, the David, appeared in Charleston harbor early in October, 1863, and seriously damaged the blockading warship, New Ironsides.
But such innovations could not overcome the constant and painful pressure of large Federal fleets all along the Southern coast. So vital were the navies to the Northern war effort, James G. Randall wrote, “that Union victory without the naval contribution seems inconceivable.”
SUGGESTED READINGS
Ammen, Daniel, The Navy in the Civil War: The Atlantic Coast (1883, 1960, 1962). Carse, Robert, Blockade (1958). Dufour, Charles L., The Night the War Was Lost (1960). Durkin, Joseph T., Stephen R. Mallory: Confederate Navy Chief (1954). Gosnell, H. Allen, Guns on the Western Waters (1949). Horn, Stanley F., Gallant Rebel (1947). Jones, Virgil C., The Civil War at Sea (3 vols., 1960-62). Lewis, Charles L., David Glasgow Farragut, Our First Admiral (2 vols., 1941-43). Mahan, Alfred T., The Navy in the Civil War: The Gulf and Inland Waters (1883, 1960, 1962). Merrill, James M., The Rebel Shore (1957). Porter, David D., The Naval History of the Civil War (1886). Robinson, William M., Jr., The Confederate Privateers (1928). Scharf, J. Thomas, History of the Confederate States Navy (1887). Semmes, Raphael, Service Afloat (1903). ____, The Confederate Raider Alabama (1962). Sinclair, Arthur, Two Years on the Alabama (1895). Soley, James R., The Navy in the Civil War: The Blockade and the Cruisers (1883, 1960, 1962). West, Richard S., Jr., Gideon Welles: Lincoln’s Navy Department (1943). ____, Mr. Lincoln’s Navy (1957). White, William and Ruth, Tin Can on a Shingle (1957).
Young boys known as “Powder Monkeys” served on almost every warship in the Civil War. This little sailor stands on the deck of the U.S.S. New Hampshire.