The Niagara was far away, on special duty off the coast of Japan and the Dacotah was also in Asian waters. Of these ships, the Brooklyn was the only one available for active duty when Lincoln first ordered the blockade. The steam frigates Colorado, Merrimac, Minnesota, Niagara, Roanoke, and Wabash and the steam sloops-of-war Brooklyn, Dacotah, Hartford, Iroquois, Lancaster, Michigan, Narragansett, Pawnee, Pensacola, Seminole and Wyoming were relatively new ships, having been built since 1855. Navy had been improving its fleet with steam powered vessels for nearly two decades. With two exceptions, all of the United States Navy shipyards were in the northern states.Īlthough many of the navy’s Civil War ships were either on duty in foreign waters or awaiting repairs, the U.S. Fortunately, the North had both the resources and manpower to quickly build ships. Because the war had seriously hampered northern shipping business, owners of several large steamers pressured the government to buy them, but these ships were too large and unwieldy to patrol the shallow coast.Īlso available to the Union Navy were several Civil War ships laid up in dry dock for repair, but most of these would take from two weeks to a month to repair. The Union Navy Department hastened to buy commercial vessels and adapt them for warfare and commission the building of other vessels. Legally, other nations were not bound to honor the blockade unless it was effective. Yet an effective blockade of the southern coast would have to cover three thousand miles. The North also had available the USS Constitution but this ship was wind powered in an age of steam power so it was regulated to training duty. Steam Frigate at Navy Yard during President Abraham Lincoln’s visit. Most of the Navy’s vessels were on duty in foreign waters and only three or four ships were available for active duty. Lincoln’s order of a naval blockade struck some of his staff as impractical. The Union’s first truly significant victory, Grant’s capture of Fort Donelson and Fort Henry in 1862 was enabled by Civil War ships and Civil War marines. In 1861 Gideon Welles was appointed as Secretary of the Navy and was ordered by Lincoln to quell the rebellion with an enormous naval blockade of the Southern coast and both the blockade and gaining control of the Mississippi would be keys to the Union‘s victory.
The Confederacy had no navy at all in 1860 and the Union Navy was in dismal shape. The role of the Federal and Confederate Civil War naval ships in the war is all the more remarkable when you consider the scarcity of battle worthy vessels owned by either side at the start of the war. The American Civil War is not generally thought of as a naval war, but Civil War ships of both sides played a significant role in the conflict.
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