1. Compare and Contrast The Union and the Confederate naval forces during the American Civil War. Include strategies, tactics, naval administration, key personnel and technological advances in naval warfare.

I. Civil War – “The largest and most pervasive conflict in American history.”

- Primarily a land war

-Three Plans for North to win War

1. Create a large field army in the vicinity of the nation’s capital to hold the Confederacy’s main army in check.

2. Maintain a strict naval blockade of the Confederate coastline to prevent the Southern states from exporting their cotton or importing munitions of war.

3. Conduct a combined Army-Navy operation to seize control of the Mississippi River and thereby split the Confederacy in half.

-Confederacy reliant on commerce raiding and experimentation – “role of the weaker navy”

-24 Percent of Naval Officers Secede with the South

-Actions were defined by lack of warships in both navies

Auxiliary Steam to Auxiliary Sails

Increased accuracy and explosive power of naval ordinance

A. Union Navy

1. Strategies/Tactics –

a. Blockade – Prevent transport of cotton and munitions

-Long southern coastline proved difficult to blockade – 3500 miles

-South tried an self embargo of cotton to try and draw England into the war, backfires on Confederacy

-Took up all ships, merchant, pleasure, etc. for blockade duty

-Mostly paper blockade early in the war

-Had to seize confederate forts within four blockading zones to serve as

coaling stations for blockading ships

b. Protection of commercial fleet

2. Key Personnel

a. Guideon Welles – SECNAV for the North. Journalist and member of the

Committee on Clothing. Not very knowledgeable about naval affairs.

b. Abraham Lincoln – President during the Civil War.

c. Winfield Scott – Major General of the Union, devised the Anaconda Plan

d. David Farragut – Captured the port of New Orleans, first person in Union to

achieve the rank of Admiral

e. John Dahlgren – Inventor of the Dahlgren bottle shaped gun

f. U.S. Grand - Commander of the Union Army

3. Naval Administration

a. Began war with 1554 officers, peaked with 6,000 and 45,000 enlisted

b. SECNAV out of touch with Navy, but does a good job

4. Technological Advances

- Dahlgren Guns – Bottle shaped to increase power of cannon

- Explosive Ordinance

- Carriers – Observation balloons towed by a ship, increased visual recon range

B. Confederate Navy

1. Strategies/Tactics

a. Defeat the blockade – Blockade Running

- Hardened running plan from ports in the Caribbean

- Blockade runners designed, black hulls ran on moonless nights

- Blockade increased insurance rates for Northern ships

b. Commerce Raiding

2. Key Personnel

a. Stephen Mallory – SECNAV for Confederates. Had been chairman of Naval

Affairs committee for the past 8 years. Very knowledgeable about current naval

affairs.

b. Franklin Buchanan – Former Superintendent of the Naval Academy, Captain of the CSS Virginia.

3. Naval Administration

a. Begins war with 373 officers

b. Common training and naval heritage from both north and south

4. Technological Advances

a. Ironclads – CSS Virginia

b. Mines/Torpedoes – One in the same, first large scale use to mine harbors

c. Submarines – H.L. Hunley, successfully sank the U.S.S. Housatonic, but sank as well

d. Main guns – revolving turret around larger guns

e. Ramming – All metal ships used to ram and sink wooden ships

3. Throughout naval history, new innovations in weapon systems and naval architecture have dramatically changed naval warfare. Discuss some of the new technologies and innovations that have impacted the United States Navy.

1. Sail to Steam

a. Changes first opposed by naval leaders, most did not want to change from the ways of old

b. Initially steam engines were inefficient and dangerous. Better modifications allowed for greater range and speed. First ships were a combination of sail and steam with primary sails. Later modifications created ships that were primarily steam with secondary sails.

c. The need for coal to power steam ships lead to the development of forward sea basing, also giving jobs to Marines for the securing and protection of such bases.

d. US Navy was one of the last world navies to make the switch to steam, but made it very effectively and efficiently.

2. Wood to Iron

a. Necessity for iron demonstrated by the duel of the Monitor and the Merrimac.

b. Iron ships also created the strategy of ramming.

c. Problems to overcome were weight and strength of iron.

3. Dreadnaughts/All Big Gun Battleships

a. Outfitting battleships with only large scale, long range guns.

b. Idea being that if you could engage your enemy outside their engagement zone with larger fire power, you could defeat them in any battle.

4. Aircraft

a. Naval aircraft first used for reconnaissance, but their use as weapons was soon seen.

b. Aircraft could be carried with ships and used to attack from long range.

c. Necessity of naval aircraft support demonstrated during the Pacific battles of WWII.

d. Naval Aircraft also served pivotal roles in the fight against U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic.

2. Describe why the United States went to war in the summer of 1812. In your opinion, how effective or ineffective were American naval forces in the battles on the various lakes to the single ship frigate duels.

-Madison takes office during a self imposed embargo on all American trade. He changes the embarge to just restricted trade with Britain and France, “Non-Intercourse Act.” Did not work very well though, most American ships still chose to trade with Europe.

- Macon’s Bill Number 2 instituted, stated that America would reopen trade with both Britain and France and then close trade to the enemy of whichever nation repealed its own embargoes first. France accepts the offer and America stops trade with Britain.

- Impressment, the forcing of sailors into service. British captains would capture any sailors thought to have once been British and impress them into service on British vessels.

- In the west, British were accused of supplying Indians with weapons to attack American forts.

- American congressmen known as the War Hawks use all factors to fuel nationalism and call for a war with Britain.

- November 1811, Madison feels that war is imminent and calls for congress to approve new military stores. Congress supplies money and supplies for the Army, but does not for the Navy.

- At the beginning of the war, the US Navy only had 17 vessels.

- After the unsuccessful cruise of the US Fleet under the command of John Rodgers, the American navy takes up the stance that American frigates should be used in single action only.

- Frigate duels were rarely strategic victories, but they did quite a bit for American moral. Constitution vs. Guerriere was the first Frigate duel victory for the United States. In most duels, United States Frigates were far superior to their British counterparts, but the idea of British naval invincibility being broken spurred the American cause on.

- Battle of Lake Erie was initially fought as a fallback option for the unsuccessful American invasion of British Canada. Mainly a race to build fleets on the lake until main fighting started.

- American ships were mostly smaller, lesser gunned, and poorer manned, but they fought gallantly and managed to defeat the British on Lake Erie under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry. This defeat secured America’s position in the Northern territories and prevented a British invasion of Ohio.

- Battle of the Chesapeake Bay (British advance to Baltimore and Washington) proved the inability of gunboats to stop a larger fleet of ships.

- Battle of Lake Champlain – British used Battle of Chesapeake to disguise their invasion from the North. Their initial target was Plattsburg. British Commodore Downie vs. American Commodore MacDonough. MacDonough positioned his fleet behind islands to protect their young crewmen and to draw the British in close for a fight. Becomes a slugfest and the Americans are able to win out of sheer tactical ability at close range. Battle forces British Major General Prevost to withdraw his campaign into Ohio.

- Summarizing American battles on the great lakes – largely smaller forces than British but won battles out of luck and strategy. Used these battles to prevent British army invasions.

4. WWII saw the United States Navy fight in two oceans. Discuss the U.S. Navy’s role in the war in the Pacific. Be sure to include operational plans, strategies, campaigns, battles and key leaders.

1. Operational Plans

a. Return to the Philippines should be America’s first objective.

b. Ship to shore amphibious drive through the central Pacific, what was left of Plan Orange.

2. Strategies

a. Island Hopping – The passing over of one enemy island to attack the next, because of strategic

unimportance and the fact that by cutting off the first island, it would wither on its own without supplies.

3. Campaigns

a. Cartwheel – The advance to Rabaul. Series of battles in the Soloman Islands conducted by MacArthur

to recapture the islands taken by the Japanese early in the war.

b. Watchtower – The campaign for Guadalcanal.

b. Central Pacific Drive – Possible because of the large numbers of ships being poured out of American

shipyards. Remnants of the original Plan Orange. Main attack was supposed to be the Marshall Islands,

but was switched to the Gilberts under direction of King. King creates the Fifth Fleet, under command of VADM Spurance, a group of Indepedence class carriers.

4. Battles

a. Coral Sea – Japanese plan to take Port Moresby in the Philippines by amphibious landing. Nimitz sends

the Lexington and Yorktown to stop the Japanese advance. Japanese planes spot American ships and

launch an attack. These ships are not the carriers though, but they divert Japanese attention away from the real American carriers. Two Japanese carriers are badly damaged and the Lexington is lost in fighting that was very confused in severe cloud cover and fog.

b. Midway – ADM Yamamoto creates a plan far to complicated for the battle at hand. He uses seven Japanese task forces in such a way that they cannot aid each other. American forces intercept Japanese codes and learn of the plan. RADM Spruance commands American carrier task forces. Series of bad decisions by Japanese make their aircraft unavailable or improperly armed for battle. Spruance does not wait to attack and his bomber arrive over Japanese carriers when their decks are littered with material from their refueling and refitting operations. All four Japanese carriers are sunk.

c. Guadalcanal – Americans attempt to intercept Japanese supply convoys bringing men and supplies to Guadalcanal. Japanese supply lines known as the Tokyo express.

d. Tarawa – Bloody Tarawa – Marines wade ashore for nearly 800 yards against heavy enemy fire. Naval gunfire support stops to early and is misdirected. Heavy casualties are sustained by US Forces.

e. Marshalls – Lessons learned at Tarawa applied in the Marshall islands. Longer and more accurate naval gunfire support, and gathering of massive amounts of intelligence data to support an amphibious landing.

f. Marianas – Large distance covered by Ameircan forces, leaving many Japanese bases behind. Marianas were within range of American B-29’s to strike the heartland of Japan.

g. Leyte Gulf – Most violent battle in the history of naval warfare. Japanese forces attempt to attack American landing forces but are cut off by American air cover and destroyers. Battle of Surigao Strit becomes the most one sided victory ever for American forces.

h. Iwo Jima – America needed to control the island for emergency landing capabilities for B-29’s. Marines land on island and fight for every square inch. Flag raised on Mt. Saribachi.

g. Okinawa – The first large scale use of Kamikazes by Japanese.

. The Final Assault – American destroyers and submarines invade Japanese ports, destroying at will.

5. Key Leaders

a. ADM Earnest J. King – Chief of Naval Operations during WWII. Did not want the navy to come under command of an Army general.

b. General Douglas MacArthur – Commander of American Army forces in the Pacific. Tried to use public image to spur him to grand commander of all the Pacific Campaign. Commanded the Southwestern Pacific area.

c. ADM Chester Nimitz – Commander of American Naval forces in the Pacific. Commanded the northern Pacific theatre and the drive through the central Pacific.

d. ADM William F. “Bull” Halsey – Lead the American Third Fleet into action in the Phillipines. Known as a bold and reckless fighter.