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The Navy of the Confederate States (CSN) was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces, established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War. The three major tasks of the Confederate Navy during the whole of its existence were the protection of Southern harbors and coastlines from outside invasion, making the war costly for the United States by attacking U.S. merchant ships worldwide and breaking the Union Blockade by drawing off U.S. Navy ships in pursuit of the Confederate raiders. ==History== The Confederate States Navy could never achieve numerical equality with the Union Navy, so it used technological innovation, such as ironclads, submarines, torpedo boats, and naval mines (then known as torpedoes) to gain advantage. In February 1861 the Confederate Navy had 30 vessels, only 14 of which were seaworthy. The Union Navy had 90 vessels. The C. S. Navy eventually grew to 101 ships to meet the rise in naval threats and conflicts. On 20 April 1861 the Union was forced to quickly abandon the important Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia. In their haste they failed to effectively burn the facility with its large depots of arms and other supplies, and several small vessels. As a result, the Confederacy captured much needed war materials, including heavy cannon, gunpowder, shot, and shell. Of most importance to the Confederacy was the shipyards dry docks, hardly damaged by the departing Union forces. The Confederacys only substantial navy yard with at that time was in Pensacola, Florida, so the Norfolk Yard was sorely needed to build new warships. The most significant warship left at the Yard was the screw frigate USS ''Merrimack''. The U. S. Navy had torched ''Merrimack''s superstructure and upper deck, then scuttled the vessel; it would have been immediately useful as a warship to their enemy. Little of the ship's structure remained other than the hull, which was holed by the scuttling charge but otherwise intact. Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory had the idea to raise ''Merrimack'' and rebuild it. When the hull was raised, it had not been submerged long enough to have been rendered unusable; the steam engines and essential machinery were salvageable. The decks were rebuilt using thick oak and pine planking, and the upper deck was overlaid with two courses of heavy iron plate. The newly rebuilt superstructure was unusual: above the waterline the sides sloped inward and were covered with two layers of heavy iron-plate armor. The vessel was a new kind of warship, an all-steam powered "iron-clad". In the centuries-old tradition of reusing captured ships, the new ship was christened CSS ''Virginia''. She later fought the Unions new ironclad ''USS Monitor''. On the second day of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the two ships met and each scored numerous hits on the other. (On the first day of that battle the ''Virginia'', and the James River Squadron, aggressively attacked and nearly broke the Union Navys sea blockade of wooden warships, proving the effectiveness of the ironclad concept.) The two ironclads had steamed forward, tried to outflank or ram the other, circled, backed away, and came forward firing again and again, but neither was able to sink or demand surrender of its opponent. After four hours both ships were taking in water through split seams and breaches by enemy shot. The engines of both were becoming dangerously overtaxed, and their crews were near exhaustion. The two ships turned and steamed away, never to meet again. This part in the Battle of Hampton Roads between ''Monitor and ''Virginia'' greatly overshadowed the bloody events their nations' ground troops were fighting, largely because it was the first battle in history between two iron-armored steam-powered warships. The last Confederate surrender took place in Liverpool, England on 6 November 1865 aboard the commerce raider CSS ''Shenandoah'' when her flag (battle ensign) was lowered for the final time. This surrender brought about the end of the Confederate Navy. The ''Shenandoah'' had circumnavigated the globe, the only Confederate ship to do so. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Confederate States Navy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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