David S Poepoe
Banned
I'm just in the final pages of Howard Fuller's Clad in Iron - The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power which has proven an interesting read. Much of the work deals with the construction of the Union monitors and their impact upon British naval ideas up to and immediately following the Battle of Hampton Roads.
There is a very good chapter on the Du Pont's attack on Charleston. I've been wondering what would be the repercussions if the monitors had forged on into the bay and eventually became caught there. At their best they have a speed equal to the incoming and outgoing tides and not enough ammunition to even begin to batter Charleston to submission.
Its likely that Du Pont's wooden ships would have risked the gauntlet, but the monitors also took damage. USS Keokuk eventually sank from extensive damage without even entering the bay. Granted the monitors received much of their pounding when they clumped together and virtually came to a stop.
Would the reprecussions of the loss of seven monitors (either by damage, surrender or scuttling) cost Secretary of the Navy Welles his position and Ericsson his standing with the US Navy?
There is a very good chapter on the Du Pont's attack on Charleston. I've been wondering what would be the repercussions if the monitors had forged on into the bay and eventually became caught there. At their best they have a speed equal to the incoming and outgoing tides and not enough ammunition to even begin to batter Charleston to submission.
Its likely that Du Pont's wooden ships would have risked the gauntlet, but the monitors also took damage. USS Keokuk eventually sank from extensive damage without even entering the bay. Granted the monitors received much of their pounding when they clumped together and virtually came to a stop.
Would the reprecussions of the loss of seven monitors (either by damage, surrender or scuttling) cost Secretary of the Navy Welles his position and Ericsson his standing with the US Navy?