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The nearly month long Battle of Mobile bay is perhaps one of the most important of the ACW due to the effect it had of weakening the CSA and aiding in Lincoln's reelection. A while ago I posted a thread asking what would happen if the CSA was able to hold Mobile after this attack. The majority of responses I got back said that without additional defenses the Union would try again and eventually succeed. So now I would like to ask this. What would it take for the CSA to hold control of Mobile Bay from the Union past the point it did in OTL?

After studying the issue myself I have come up with several PODs that could aid in the CSA’s attempt to hold the bay and I would like to share them.

Firstly one of the main defenses that the bay had was a large number of torpedoes at its entrance. According to Wikipedia

"The Confederate Torpedo Bureau, directed by Maj. Gen. Gabriel J. Rains, contributed a passive weapon to the defense. Men of the bureau had planted 67 "torpedoes" (naval mines) across the entrance, leaving a gap on the eastern side of the channel so blockade runners and other friendly vessels could enter or leave the harbor. The minefield was well marked by buoys, which Farragut knew well. Its purpose was not necessarily to sink enemy vessels trying to enter, but rather to force them to steer close to FortMorgan and its guns."

http://maic.jmu.edu/journal/6.1/notes/robbins/robbins.htm

Yet as stated in the link above-
"As excellent as Rains’ torpedoes were, they had one weakness: prolonged submersion could corrode them, rendering them useless. An example came in Mobile Bay, Alabama, on August 5. 1864, when Union Rear Admiral David Farragut steamed his fleet through heavily mined waters to capture Mobile. Farragut is famous for his command. "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" What seems like boldness, however, was actually recklessness. Many officers in the fleet heard the almost constant snapping of primers under the bottoms of the ships and wondered why only one torpedo exploded (the one that sank the monitor Tecumseh). They later learned that the torpedoes had been in the water so long they had corroded."

I'd like to add that as badass as Farragut;s quote is above his command and more likely something like - to the captain of the Hartford, "Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton." Then he shouted to the commander of the Metacomet, lashed to the Hartford's side, "Go ahead, Jouett, full speed." - which is still pretty badass. :cool:

So with this in mind I suggest a POD that causes the Confederate to some how discover the defectiveness of the torpedoes in the bay and then replace them some time before the battle. Due to this several of the US Navy's ships should be lost before entering the bay which should help turn the tide in the CS's favor.

Secondly one of the other issues the CSA had during the battle was that it only had one ironclad ship to use during the battle which was the CSS Tennessee.


After reading an article on Wikipedia about MobileBay I found that there were several CS ships sunk in it which could have been made present during the battle. I'd like to point out that I don't know why some of them weren't used when they where near the bay at the time. These ships include.
  • CSS Huntsville - She had defective engines that were obtained from a river steamer and an incomplete armament, so was assigned to guard the waters around Mobile. Huntsville escaped up the Spanish River following the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864.
  • CSS Phoenix - She was severely damaged during the launching and subsequently could not be used as a warship. She was brought to Mobile and scuttled by Confederate forces at the Dog River Bar in MobileBay on August 7, 1864.
  • CSS Tuscaloosa - She escaped up the Spanish River following the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864.
  • This links show models of the Huntsville and Tuscaloosa http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/ct-ertzs-projects/5670-css-tuscaloosa-huntsville-2.html
With this in mind I'd like to suggest PODs that prevent the Pheonix from being damaged, improve the function of the Huntsville's engines, and place all of them near the Tennessee as support during the time of the battle.

Comments?:confused:

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