Anaxagoras
Banned
With a POD no earlier than January 1, 1862, how can the Confederates hold New Orleans? Bonus points if the Union fleet is heavily damaged in a failed attack.
With a POD no earlier than January 1, 1862, how can the Confederates hold New Orleans? Bonus points if the Union fleet is heavily damaged in a failed attack.
The workers on the CSS Mississipi are execused from military tasks and concentrate on the building the ship, so then the day comes, the ship is just available.
Admiral Farragut fleet is confronted by that monster. By the end of the day, the Mississipi runs aground and is destroyed, like the best part of Farragut's fleet. Among the US losses is Admiral Farragut himself.
General Butler tries to force his ways on land but he encounters a preview of what would happen a century later in Vietnam's rice fields.
After this twin failure, the project to conquer New Orleans is deferred to better times.
New Orlenans will surely fall later (taken by Grant) but for months its industrial capability will be fully availble to the confederacy.
Second the CSA Navy is going to take note of the damage that the CSS Mississippi did and the competent CS Navy Secretary will probably pour every resource into building ships like the CSS Mississippi. What are the effects of that?
Probably not good for the CSA in the long term. The armor for the ironclads was made of railroad ties because they were desperately short. If they push to finish then some other project is going to run short of metal. The Union can match them in ships so any temporary relief they get from the ironclads is going to be offset when they lose them.