Other Innovations
Some people associated with the Navy during the
19th century were interested in the air above the ocean.
The USS George Washington Parke Custis of the Civil
War days might be labeled as the Navy’s first “aircraft
carrier.” Actually, it was a balloon boat used to launch
observation balloons over enemy installations. It was
122 feet long, and its total cost was 0.
Other Civil War Actions
Capture of Vicksburg. On the Mississippi River,
the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by the combined
naval forces of Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, Acting
Rear Admiral David D. Porter, and the commander of
the Army in the West, General Ulysses S. Grant gave the
North control of the entire river. The capture of
Vicksburg cut off important Confederate supplies of
food and clothing coming from Louisiana, Texas, and
Arkansas.
Battle of Mobile Bay. On August 5, 1864, David
Farragut, the Navy’s first admiral, gave his famous order
“Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” (Torpedo was
the name used at the time for mines.) Farragut’s order
won the Battle of Mobile Bay (fig. 5-5). This victory
closed the South’s most important port (since New
Orleans had already fallen) and tightened the Union
blockade.
The Civil War produced many men whose names
are still famous in the Navy:
Andrew Foote, whose gunboats helped General
Grant capture the Mississippi River fortresses
John Dahlgren, the father of modern naval
ordnance (fig. 5-6)
David D. Porter (son of the captain of the Essex),
who commanded the mortar flotilla in the
capture of New Orleans
POST CIVIL WAR NAVY
Alfred T. Mahan (fig. 5-7) was one of the first
instructors at the Naval War College, and he influenced
naval strategy. In 1890, the first of his many books and
articles on sea power was published. One of his books
(The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660 - 1783)
stressed that without control of the seas, a nation at war
could not expect victory. He defined sea power; showed
the importance of understanding naval needs; and
advocated a large, powerful Navy capable of
assembling an overwhelming force to defeat the
enemy’s Navy. His books on sea power became the
“bible” of many navies, and for many years, they
influenced the thinking of naval strategists. Part of our
Navy’s readiness for the war with Spain was a result of
the influence of his works.
Surface Ships
Steam power was the major development in ship
propulsion during the first half of the 19th century. Iron
construction of ships was the outstanding development
of the second half. The two developments went hand in
hand—all the navies of the world recognized the
advantages of steam power, and iron warships needed
large steam engines to power them. The engines, in turn,
called for bigger ships to accommodate them.
Shipbuilders used iron first as framing and then as a
material for the entire ship. Iron was first used as
framing to reinforce ships so that they could be used to
ram their opponents as well as fire on them. It was
several years before an economical way to process iron
strong enough for the entire construction could be
found. (Wooden ships had the advantage of being
cheaper to build than iron ships.)
After the Civil War, the Navy began a drawdown
period. A year and a half after the war, the total number
of Navy ships was 236, with only 56 in active service.
World conditions made our Country aware that the
Navy was small. Therefore, in 1882 and 1883, Congress
authorized the construction of the “protected cruisers”
USS Atlanta, USS Boston, and USS Chicago and the
dispatch boat USS Dolphin, which had both masts for
sails and stacks for smoke. They were steel hulled and
signaled the end of the ironclads introduced only 40
years earlier. These new cruisers were in the 13- to
14-knot class. They sported new guns, new types of
turrets, and armor.
Once more, the Navy began to rebuild its strength.
Continued changes were made as the new steel Navy
took on new shapes. Still clinging to the past, the USS
5-11
Student Notes:
