Submarines During The Civil War

The Confederate ramming ships were essentially swift steamboats with a few guns and limited armor. These ramming vessels were designed to outmaneuver slower gunboats and ram into them. Foote was able to defeat the Confederate ships due to the aid of a similar group of eight Union ramming vessels, which were not equipped with guns and we therefore lighter and faster. The swifter Union rams combined with fire from ironclad gunboats were able to sink the rebel rams, and subsequently take Memphis.

This separation presented communication and data-sharing challenges. Furthermore, the new design contained a number of technical risks, one of them was designing a submarine that would operate in a manner and environment very different from what Kockums was accustomed to. The risk resulted fuel system has been proven to be problematic. Swedish submarines have short patrols in calm, relatively fresh water. When a similar design was used in the salty, open water in which Australian submarines operate, water was sucked into the engine causing failure. Moreover, the RAN submarines transit greater distance and are on station for months at time, which has number of implications for fuel storage, hotel service, and other hull design features. The difference in operation concept and environment ultimately led to some equipment and system decision during design that caused problems with operations and supportability.

Thesis: The creation of submarines that were used to win Civil wars and control countries were a part of a rapidly growing aspect of technology.

The blockade runners of the American Civil War were steam ships that traveled throughout the sea and were used to make their way through the Union blockade that extended around 3,500 miles along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. To get through the blockade these ships had to travel mainly at night. If they were spotted the runners would attempt to outmaneuver or outrun any Union ships on blockade patrol. The typical blockade runners were privately owned vessels often operated with a trademark issued by the Confederate States. These vessels would carry cargoes to and from neutral ports that were located in Nassau and Cuba, where neutral merchant ships carried these cargoes, usually coming from or intended to go

The U-boats one of Germany’s of most intimidating naval weapons. The U-boat, also known as a submarine, which is a boat that could go underwater. The common U-boat during World War One could carry 35 men and 12 torpedoes (history.com). The Germans would use the element of surprise by torpedoing ships such as their enemies or neutral countries.For example, the ship the Lusitania, a british ocean liner that had been coming from New York to Liverpool had been torpedoed without warning, which ended up killing 1,189 people. The Germans would use the U-boat for unrestricted warfare which caused the Germans’ to have one of the most

The Collins Class submarine was prone to excessive noise signatures whilst travelling at speed and lacked the operational capability to enter conflict situations due to the

They were so ill equipped that they had to use small river boats before they could sail out to sea. The first ship that the South made was the Ironclad or Virginia as they named it. The ship itself started off as an old river steamer. Then the Confederates found it, fixed it, and reinforced it with heavy and solid iron plates. When the Union cut off Southern trading, they released their Ironclad on the blockade. It destroyed two ships and managed to get one of the ships to retreat. But the Union counteracted with their own Ironclad named the Monitor. The battle had no winner because neither ship could damage the other. They both gave up but the Union still had their blockade over Southern ports. The Confederacy was angered by this and lost their trading route with Europe. But later in the war they started to increase their navy by moving some army troops to the

During the civil war the naval involvement was an integral piece in the outcome of the war. Regardless of the advances in railroad and other means of transporting supplies the waterways ultimately won the war (Hampton Roads Naval Museum, n.d.). The Union used ships to blockade the Southern ports, the Confederate ports had a few industrial areas (Hampton Roads Naval Museum, n.d.). These ports did not generate enough revenue to sustain a large army, it was a daily fight between the U.S. Navy and the blockade runners. The rivers were used to move Soldiers and supplies, up and down stream. These rivers were highly important to the commanders winning the upper hand.

Naval warfare saw a major change as well during the civil war with the introduction of the Iron Clad Ships. A great example of the impact that Iron Clad ships played in naval warfare is the Confederate Iron Clad Ship named CSS Virginia. In an engagement where the Iron Clad ship was greatly outnumbered by the Union naval fleet comprised of older wooden frigates, the CSS Virginia was able to achieve total inhalation of the Union fleet while only receiving minimal damage. This brought an end to the era of wooden sailing fleets and be followed up by the building of future battleships.

​The German U-Boats were like a submarine that was a lot more advanced than those that were built by other nations; and they were the first submarines made by the Germans. The U-boat was 214 feet long, it could carry 35 men, and 12 torpedoes at a time. And it could travel underwater for 2 hours at a time. With these Germany had a lot of success against the British warships. (https://www.britannica.com/technology/U-boat)

The first successfully sinking of a target by submarine was during the Civil War. The forty foot long Hunley submarine, which was operated by eight men hand cranking a propeller shaft, was able to successfully sink the USS Housatonic on February 16, 1864. Although soon after the attack, the Hunley also sank (3). During the Civil War “significant naval warfare occurred on the great inland rivers, especially the Mississippi, but also notably the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Red Rivers” (4). To improve vulnerable wooden ships and save them from destruction, architects dramatically improved the defenses of ships by plating their sides with iron or steel. These new and improved ships soon became known as ironclads, which were able to withstand heavy artillery rounds and vastly change the Civil War (5). Naval warfare became more advanced as the years went on and the world entered its First World War. Submarines made a significant impact for the first time in World War I. For the time the most daunting naval weapon was the U-boat that was introduced by the Germans. This submarine was far more sophisticated than the submarine used in the Civil War. These U-boats usually carried thirty-five men and twelve torpedoes, and could travel underwater for two hours (6). Along with the

Before World War II, the submarine was very predictable and easily managed with detection systems, depth detection, and antisubmarine forces. The aircrafts were harder to manage, and could easily penetrate enemy territory. It was not so predictable.[xii]

The Germans had definitely revolutionized naval with the introduction of their U-boats. If it had not been for them, there may not have been any good offensive weapons to use at sea. The Germans had created much more powerful weapons by implementing torpedoes into their U-boats. This was a very smart idea by the Germans as it allowed them to catch many enemies off guard and be much more successful at sea. It was smart of them to take a more offensive approach to naval battles instead of their usual defensive approach. Not only was a new approach taken towards naval battle, but land warfare was also highly improved.

They soon discovered the submarines bow planes were buried; the bow tanks full of sand. The propellers were torn off, steering gear ruined, stern tanks flooded, and all the hatches were desperately jammed.

Years before the submarine was created, Jules Verne created s sub type vehicle in "20,000 League Under the Sea,"