At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, there was little reason to suspect that the United States Navy would play a very big role in the war. The Confederate Navy had absolutely no navy, nor did they have the ability to create one. The south did not contain a single plant that could create a marine engine. (Carrison, page #17) The government of the Confederate States got underway in the spring of 1861, totally unprepared from a naval standpoint to uphold the independence it had declared. (Confederate Forces Afloat, page #1)

The Confederacy lacked the adequate means to conduct an offensive of defensive war. (http://sunsite.unc.edu/ page 1a) They needed ships to defend its long coastline and inland waterways, to carry war to its northern shores, or to conduct the foreign trade, vital to its existence. To this bleak outlook was added but limited hope to acquiring or constructing a navy. Nevertheless, inspired determination and ingenuity evinced particularly by the more than 300 able officers who resigned from the United States Navy to support the southern cause. These men culminated in the rapid appearance of many varied types of forces afloat under the Confederate flag. (http:/

The Union and the Confederacy both tried to invent new seagoing vessels to out maneuver the opposition. Both came up with the idea of an "ironclad" ship. The Union used these vessels more readily because of the materials and factories that were established in the north. The Union's first "ironclads" were not completely covered with iron. They were partially covered to help defend against attackers. These ships were also very useful in the blockade around the entire southern coastline. The south had a hard enough time trying get up it's own navy to defend the strategic ports. The Union just did not develop these ships to the full extent they should have to completely overrun the southern navy.

Some common words found in the essay are:
United Navy, Marine Department, Union Confederacy, Confederate Navy, Forces Afloat, Congress Union, Warships Britain, Virginia Merrimac, Monitor It's, Harbor Hunley, civil war, united navy, mississippi river, inland waterways, forces afloat, union forces, carrison page, carrison page #20, confederate forces, hampton roads, monitor merrimac, confederate forces afloat,
Approximate Word count = 1768
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)