A history of the Confederate States Navy and the American naval Arms race, 1865-1930

Forward
Forward
Following the success of the proceeding, A history of the two navies of the American Civil war, 1860-1865*, it was decided to attempt a follow up work dealing with Confederate naval history up until the present day. As it was realized the sheer amount of work required it was decided to split the work into two volumes, this tome dealing with the Confederate navy immediately following their war with the Union, and concluding prior to the second world war. While a follow up work would deal with the CSN during the second world war and into the modern age.
What followed was several years of work, fortunately in making the earlier work we had managed to gain the trust of both the Confederate government, as well as the Unions famously prickly department of defense. These constitute our primary sources, though also the British, French, Soviet, German and other records were consulted where applicable.

Contents

Introduction

Summary of History

The post war fleet

The coastal Ironclads

Oceangoing fleet

The Steel Battleships

June Ecole takes over

Cruiser mania takes hold

A battle line at last

The naval arms race

Dreadnoughts

Super Dreadnoughts

The great war

Great plans

The Washington Naval Treaty

Reconstruction of the fleet

New designs

Afterward


*a made up in universe book.
 
This is an attempt to write in a style you may find in a book. No real forethought has been put into this, just had an inkling of an idea and decided to write this on the fly.
 
Introduction
Today the Confederate States of America is a large sovereign state stretching north to south from Virginia to Florida, and east to west from the east coast all the way to the western reaches of Texas, it is the third largest state in the area in terms of population, behind the Union and Mexico, while it ranks second in terms of economy thanks to the nations extensive oil and natural gas industry, as well as large farms and mining areas. This state has a long history going back to the seventeenth century, though its recent history is stained by the racial conflicts which shaped the nations history following its independence. In recent decades the Confederacy has attempted great strides in shortening the gap between their white and coloured populations, also investing heavily in rural areas which are traditionally rather poor.

But the demographics, geography and economy of the Confederacy is not the purpose of this work, nor is its history the focus of this work, outside of the naval history of the Confederacy. However such a basic understanding of the CSA, especially for those readers unfamiliar with modern American history, will be necessary for a more complete comprehension of the naval history of the Confederacy as it is the complex political, economic and demographic factors of the nations history which shaped the fleet actually built by the Confederate States Navy.

Hence the first section of this book will give an abbreviated history of the Confederacy and its complex relationships with its neighbors. Following this brief look at history the book will then follow a history of the Confederate navy. Following each section, which will deal with a specific period or aspect of the Confederate fleet, a list of the ships built in the period will follow. Giving their size, capabilities and armament. The next section will then follow this, until the work has been completed.
 
Map of the agreed upon borders, post 1865 treaty of London.
USA 1860.png
 
Today the Confederate States of America is a large sovereign state stretching north to south from Virginia to Florida, and east to west from the east coast all the way to the western reaches of Texas, it is the third largest state in the area in terms of population, behind the Union and Mexico, while it ranks second in terms of economy thanks to the nations extensive oil and natural gas industry, as well as large farms and mining areas. This state has a long history going back to the seventeenth century, though its recent history is stained by the racial conflicts which shaped the nations history following its independence. In recent decades the Confederacy has attempted great strides in shortening the gap between their white and coloured populations, also investing heavily in rural areas which are traditionally rather poor.

But the demographics, geography and economy of the Confederacy is not the purpose of this work, nor is its history the focus of this work, outside of the naval history of the Confederacy. However such a basic understanding of the CSA, especially for those readers unfamiliar with modern American history, will be necessary for a more complete comprehension of the naval history of the Confederacy as it is the complex political, economic and demographic factors of the nations history which shaped the fleet actually built by the Confederate States Navy.

Hence the first section of this book will give an abbreviated history of the Confederacy and its complex relationships with its neighbors. Following this brief look at history the book will then follow a history of the Confederate navy. Following each section, which will deal with a specific period or aspect of the Confederate fleet, a list of the ships built in the period will follow. Giving their size, capabilities and armament. The next section will then follow this, until the work has been completed.

The problem with the premise is that if the CSA is seriously involved in a naval arms race with the USA it spends itself into bankruptcy. A naval arms race is absolutely the LAST thing the CSA wants or is good for its continual survival.
 
The problem with the premise is that if the CSA is seriously involved in a naval arms race with the USA it spends itself into bankruptcy. A naval arms race is absolutely the LAST thing the CSA wants or is good for its continual survival.
Well there is more at play than just the CSA economy versus the USA. Future updates should clarify that somewhat.
 
History, part one
Civil war and independence
The American civil war is well documented in other works and so will not be the focus of this article. However a brief summary of the war will be helpful in this work to familiarize the reader better with the context of the period covered by this book. This will be brief so as not to divert time and ink from the main purpose of the work and as such may not satisfy everyone as a complete and in depth look at the conflict that shaped the Confederacy.

The American civil war began as a conflict over states rights, specifically the issue over slavery, which pitted the Confederacy against the rump United states. The war began in 1861 and saw an initially unstoppable string of Confederate victories which lasted until 1862 when the northern states began to bring their greater industry, economy, population and wealth to bear on the problem that was the south. Confederate efforts to gain the support and recognition of foreign powers would prove impossible to achieve in the period as the south struggled against their unequal foe.

The war continued to drag on despite additional Confederate victories in 1863 and 1864 the Union continued to strangle the Confederacy with a naval blockade, managing to cut the CSA in half when the fortress of Vicksburg was captured in a bloody battle in 1863. The south attempted to overcome its disadvantages with the construction of a fleet of ironclad warships and davids, small semi-submersibles. But the Union responded with its own fleet of ironclads. The war would cost the Confederacy dearly as its key cities were captured and a bloody defeat was suffered at Gettysburg in 1863 which ended planned Confederate invasions northward and seemed to be the final nail in the coffin against the Confederacy gaining official recognition as a sovereign state.

The failures of the Confederacy may have made victory seem to be less and less possible by the day, however it would be the Unions blockade of the Confederacy that would ultimately pave the way for Britain to recognize the CSA as a fully independent state. The Union had early on in the blockade began to seize a number of British flagged merchant ships, but this was ended following a disastrous incident in 1862. However as Confederate raiders and blockade runners began to pose as British ships the USN began to seize an ever increasing number of legitimate British ships under suspicion they were Confederates in disguise. The British attempted to stop this, but were rebuffed by a US increasingly confident of victory and boisterous of its own power.

The British finally had enough in late 1863 when a British warship was fired on by a Union vessel which suspected her of being the Confederate raider CSS Alabama. They quietly surrendered several ships built in Britain for the Confederacy but seized by the government as illegal constructions. With these ships the Confederacy managed to smash the blockade around the Confederate coast in a series of running battles just within sight of the coast. At the same time Union General Tecumseh Sherman was killed in an ambush while marching his army through Georgia in August of 1864.

This battle closely followed the battle of the wilderness in may of the same year where the Union army under general Grant was all but annihilated by the army of Virginia under general Lee, who inflicted over ninety thousand casualties on the US Army in a few days. This battle, and the congruent destruction of another Union army in Georgia (the remnants of Shermans army) would shock the Union. Causing widespread riots and a serious loss of faith in the norths president Lincoln. These victories pushed the British to fully recognize the Confederacy, this combined with the shattering of two armies, deaths of over one hundred and eighty thousand troops, obliteration of the blockade and widespread unrest at home would finally move the Union to the negotiating table, albeit following a hotly contested vote in the US Congress which went against the wishes of Lincoln. Negotiations would conclude in September of 1865 with the British negotiated treaty of Ottawa which recognized the Confederacy as an independent nation.

Unstable peace, 1865-1875

Industrialization and the Negro question, 1875-1890

Tensions rise, 1890-1894

American Arms race, 1895-1914

Rapprochement, 1914-1923


Washington Naval Treaty, 1922

Life with the treaty, 1922-1931
 
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