Sons of Nova Scotia demand the return of Sunbury County! Deadly TL, I agree with Faeelin, not enough TL about the Trent Affair. A note, the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment could be reinstated, it being almost 50 years since it standing down.
If they will not meet us on the open sea (a Trent TL)
- Thread starter Saphroneth
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Saphroneth
Banned
Sorry, I've been a bit disrupted by the chaos resulting from the Referendum - I work in finance, so it's a bit of the old "running in circles".
I'll try to do something at lunch.
I'll try to do something at lunch.
28 April 1862
Saphroneth
Banned
28 April
The Leo and Sagittarius close in on Presque Isle Bay and on Erie, Pennsylvania. This anchorage was the major construction centre in the War of 1812, and a number of small ironclads are being built here - two modified Casco class, one modified Passaic and one broadside ironclad, with the broadside vessel around two weeks from launching and the modified Casco monitors awaiting casing - with several lake ships undergoing conversion to armed vessels (gunboats, essentially) and five already back in the water, along with one heavier vessel (the Lawrence). There are also hasty earthworks set up to cover the entrance to the bay, holding a total of a dozen 32-lbers and six 8" and two 11" guns.
The Lawrence is a converted dispatch vessel, and mounts four 10-inch guns and eight 6.4" Parrott rifles - which have been provided with wrought iron bolts - as well as a dozen 32-lbers. She is supported by the Somers, Porcupine, Hunter and Chippeway, all paddle wheelers with two 8" pivot guns, and the screw Mary Todd with twelve 32-lbers.
This appearance of British ironclads was a surprise to the Union garrison commander, who considered both retreating past the bar and sallying out. In the event, he notices that the British ships are moving very slowly - and thus decides to try to exploit their low speed, which appears to be around four to five knots.
Leo and Sagittarius take around two hours to reach engagement range after being spotted on the horizon, their low-powered (and lightweight) engines not giving them the speed for a major fleet action, and finally come under 11" fire at about 2pm. In reply, the two ships open their broadsides and begin firing, using their 110-lber guns to engage the shore batteries at range.
This section of the battle is slow and awkward, with the American 11" guns fundamentally unable to penetrate the armour of the two Zodiacs - especially at range - but the British rifles hampered by the tossing and pitching of their ships. After around half an hour with no particular damage done to either side (there is the loss of one 32-lber on the American side and the British Leo having taken some damage to her bare mast), the Zodiacs move in for a more decisive engagement, hoping for calmer water behind the spit which forms Presque Isle bay.
It is nearly 3pm when the main battle begins. The Union commander waits until his enemies are just shy of the bar - which he does not expect will stop ships he knows transited the Welland - and sallies at this point out of Little Bay (which is to the north of the bar). The Somers and Mary Todd aim to get in front of the ironclads, to both rake and block them from moving, and the Porcupine and Hunter shape their course to move in behind. The Lawrence aims right for the gap between the ships, trailed by the Chippeway.
Their move takes a minute to elicit a reply from the British ships, which were mostly focused on their duel with the shore batteries, and then a belated fire from four 68-lbers booms out from Leo. This salvo contains three regular shells and one Martin's Shell, but of these only two conventional shells hit home on the Mary Todd (disabling four guns and causing significant casualties).
Sagittarius is more lucky, managing to land a Martin's Shell of her own on the Porcupine and setting her aflame.
The distance from anchorage to the British ironclad formation is short, and the run in takes only about five minutes as the Union ships work up to full speed. Over this time the British ironclads get off two salvos, but these are poorly coordinated - there is no particular attempt to choose priority targets.
It is at about this point that the Union plan becomes clear, as the Lawrence alters course to aim directly for the starboard side of Leo. Moving at ten knots, she is too fast for the much slower Leo to dodge, and strikes home with a mighty crash.
Leo and Lawrence are both badly shaken by the impact. The US ship is considerably more massy, but not as heavily built - and Leo has four inches of rolled armour complete with backing. Lawrence stoves in her bows, taking on water (but still firing broadsides with her rifles at the nearby Sagittarius) and Leo is holed below the waterline by warping and working of the structure. Several planks are started by the impact.
Backing off, Leo fires a heavy broadside at Lawrence, and Sagittarius fires her 68-lbers at Chippeway - this smashes one of the paddle boxes, ruining the attempt by the slower Chippeway to repeat this performance.
Any attempt by the Union commander to capitalize on this achievement is cut short when the fires started by a Martin's Shell from Leo reach the powder store on Lawrence, and the Union ship explodes violently (killing him instantly) sending flaming debris raining down in all directions.
This concussion causes a pause in the fighting, Sagittarius turning to defend her squadron-mate, and Leo retreats from Presque Isle making damage control attempts. This will not be totally successful, and will lead over the next few hours to dumping most of the ammunition overboard along with two 68-lber guns to lighten her. (All the surviving guns are placed on the port broadside, thus ensuring balance.)
Leo is towed across to North Point by Sagittarius and is beached there as the sun goes down, to permit a full examination of the damage on friendly territory. Meanwhile, further Zodiacs are urgently requested for Lake Erie and there are plans to transfer the ones already on Lake Ontario.
(So, this one sort of happened as I wrote it. I'm not sure how much damage a ramming attempt like that would actually do, but hopefully it's realistic for a situation where the attacker has no ram.)
The Leo and Sagittarius close in on Presque Isle Bay and on Erie, Pennsylvania. This anchorage was the major construction centre in the War of 1812, and a number of small ironclads are being built here - two modified Casco class, one modified Passaic and one broadside ironclad, with the broadside vessel around two weeks from launching and the modified Casco monitors awaiting casing - with several lake ships undergoing conversion to armed vessels (gunboats, essentially) and five already back in the water, along with one heavier vessel (the Lawrence). There are also hasty earthworks set up to cover the entrance to the bay, holding a total of a dozen 32-lbers and six 8" and two 11" guns.
The Lawrence is a converted dispatch vessel, and mounts four 10-inch guns and eight 6.4" Parrott rifles - which have been provided with wrought iron bolts - as well as a dozen 32-lbers. She is supported by the Somers, Porcupine, Hunter and Chippeway, all paddle wheelers with two 8" pivot guns, and the screw Mary Todd with twelve 32-lbers.
This appearance of British ironclads was a surprise to the Union garrison commander, who considered both retreating past the bar and sallying out. In the event, he notices that the British ships are moving very slowly - and thus decides to try to exploit their low speed, which appears to be around four to five knots.
Leo and Sagittarius take around two hours to reach engagement range after being spotted on the horizon, their low-powered (and lightweight) engines not giving them the speed for a major fleet action, and finally come under 11" fire at about 2pm. In reply, the two ships open their broadsides and begin firing, using their 110-lber guns to engage the shore batteries at range.
This section of the battle is slow and awkward, with the American 11" guns fundamentally unable to penetrate the armour of the two Zodiacs - especially at range - but the British rifles hampered by the tossing and pitching of their ships. After around half an hour with no particular damage done to either side (there is the loss of one 32-lber on the American side and the British Leo having taken some damage to her bare mast), the Zodiacs move in for a more decisive engagement, hoping for calmer water behind the spit which forms Presque Isle bay.
It is nearly 3pm when the main battle begins. The Union commander waits until his enemies are just shy of the bar - which he does not expect will stop ships he knows transited the Welland - and sallies at this point out of Little Bay (which is to the north of the bar). The Somers and Mary Todd aim to get in front of the ironclads, to both rake and block them from moving, and the Porcupine and Hunter shape their course to move in behind. The Lawrence aims right for the gap between the ships, trailed by the Chippeway.
Their move takes a minute to elicit a reply from the British ships, which were mostly focused on their duel with the shore batteries, and then a belated fire from four 68-lbers booms out from Leo. This salvo contains three regular shells and one Martin's Shell, but of these only two conventional shells hit home on the Mary Todd (disabling four guns and causing significant casualties).
Sagittarius is more lucky, managing to land a Martin's Shell of her own on the Porcupine and setting her aflame.
The distance from anchorage to the British ironclad formation is short, and the run in takes only about five minutes as the Union ships work up to full speed. Over this time the British ironclads get off two salvos, but these are poorly coordinated - there is no particular attempt to choose priority targets.
It is at about this point that the Union plan becomes clear, as the Lawrence alters course to aim directly for the starboard side of Leo. Moving at ten knots, she is too fast for the much slower Leo to dodge, and strikes home with a mighty crash.
Leo and Lawrence are both badly shaken by the impact. The US ship is considerably more massy, but not as heavily built - and Leo has four inches of rolled armour complete with backing. Lawrence stoves in her bows, taking on water (but still firing broadsides with her rifles at the nearby Sagittarius) and Leo is holed below the waterline by warping and working of the structure. Several planks are started by the impact.
Backing off, Leo fires a heavy broadside at Lawrence, and Sagittarius fires her 68-lbers at Chippeway - this smashes one of the paddle boxes, ruining the attempt by the slower Chippeway to repeat this performance.
Any attempt by the Union commander to capitalize on this achievement is cut short when the fires started by a Martin's Shell from Leo reach the powder store on Lawrence, and the Union ship explodes violently (killing him instantly) sending flaming debris raining down in all directions.
This concussion causes a pause in the fighting, Sagittarius turning to defend her squadron-mate, and Leo retreats from Presque Isle making damage control attempts. This will not be totally successful, and will lead over the next few hours to dumping most of the ammunition overboard along with two 68-lber guns to lighten her. (All the surviving guns are placed on the port broadside, thus ensuring balance.)
Leo is towed across to North Point by Sagittarius and is beached there as the sun goes down, to permit a full examination of the damage on friendly territory. Meanwhile, further Zodiacs are urgently requested for Lake Erie and there are plans to transfer the ones already on Lake Ontario.
(So, this one sort of happened as I wrote it. I'm not sure how much damage a ramming attempt like that would actually do, but hopefully it's realistic for a situation where the attacker has no ram.)
Poor Saphro - But thats what you get when asking the people waht the want and not giving them all the facts
Saphroneth
Banned
Yeah...Poor Saphro - But thats what you get when asking the people waht the want and not giving them all the facts
...hopefully the above works, though.
29 April 1862
Saphroneth
Banned
29 April
Capricorn transits the Welland canal, Aetna being left on Lake Ontario to keep it under Imperial control. More Zodiacs are on the way, but the (now once burned) Yelverton is of the opinion he should wait until he has them at his disposal to attack Presque Isle again.
Meanwhile, some way to the south, the battles around the Turnpike continue. The Confederacy has taken the daring step of sailing eight 9" smoothbores from the Colorado up the Potomac past Washington, with Virginia engaging Fort Washington to cover the transit, and while one of the barges is sunk four 9" guns are unloaded at the pontoon bridge now constructed upriver of Washington. These guns are intended to provide heavy support as the Confederate Army tries to roll up the fort ring, though in the afternoon they are diverted to the site of McClellan's slow-motion attack attempting to cut off the Confederate path along the turnpike.
A.S Johnston attacks Grant's Army of the Tennessee around Nashville, TN. The engagement is fought in bad weather and confused, with several regiments from both sides getting lost at different times, and the decisive moment of the battle comes when an assault by Confederate infantry comes at the same time as a flanking attack by Confederate cavalry. The combination proves too much for Grant's left wing, which breaks, and the able general is forced to conduct a retreat on his right flank.
Johnston's army loses about 2,000 troops dead or crippled, with around twice as many wounded, and Grant takes fewer fatal casualties (1,500 dead or seriously injured) but has many more captured from the collapse of his wing. He is now effectively bottled up in Nashville with ~ 35,000 troops left (counting wounded) and an unfortunate problem - only 25,000 small arms. (Many of those lost were cast away during the retreat.)
With Grant essentially contained for now, Johnston begins planning an offensive against the Army of the Ohio. Since so many Union troops are to the north and east, he has some numerical superiority - his aim is to concentrate it for crushing blows.
Capricorn transits the Welland canal, Aetna being left on Lake Ontario to keep it under Imperial control. More Zodiacs are on the way, but the (now once burned) Yelverton is of the opinion he should wait until he has them at his disposal to attack Presque Isle again.
Meanwhile, some way to the south, the battles around the Turnpike continue. The Confederacy has taken the daring step of sailing eight 9" smoothbores from the Colorado up the Potomac past Washington, with Virginia engaging Fort Washington to cover the transit, and while one of the barges is sunk four 9" guns are unloaded at the pontoon bridge now constructed upriver of Washington. These guns are intended to provide heavy support as the Confederate Army tries to roll up the fort ring, though in the afternoon they are diverted to the site of McClellan's slow-motion attack attempting to cut off the Confederate path along the turnpike.
A.S Johnston attacks Grant's Army of the Tennessee around Nashville, TN. The engagement is fought in bad weather and confused, with several regiments from both sides getting lost at different times, and the decisive moment of the battle comes when an assault by Confederate infantry comes at the same time as a flanking attack by Confederate cavalry. The combination proves too much for Grant's left wing, which breaks, and the able general is forced to conduct a retreat on his right flank.
Johnston's army loses about 2,000 troops dead or crippled, with around twice as many wounded, and Grant takes fewer fatal casualties (1,500 dead or seriously injured) but has many more captured from the collapse of his wing. He is now effectively bottled up in Nashville with ~ 35,000 troops left (counting wounded) and an unfortunate problem - only 25,000 small arms. (Many of those lost were cast away during the retreat.)
With Grant essentially contained for now, Johnston begins planning an offensive against the Army of the Ohio. Since so many Union troops are to the north and east, he has some numerical superiority - his aim is to concentrate it for crushing blows.
Saphroneth
Banned
Now, here's an interesting point about this situation. The CSA just missed a trick - though they may not continue to miss it.
What they don't know is that Grant's Army of the Tennessee has no second line behind it. There's no Indiana or Illinois militia left, their guns are all in the hands of the regiments from their respective states - basically, there's the Army of the Ohio, and there's some Union forces in Missouri (though drawn down to provide troops for Michigan) but not much more than scattered garrisons between them which might tally to 5,000 men.
What they don't know is that Grant's Army of the Tennessee has no second line behind it. There's no Indiana or Illinois militia left, their guns are all in the hands of the regiments from their respective states - basically, there's the Army of the Ohio, and there's some Union forces in Missouri (though drawn down to provide troops for Michigan) but not much more than scattered garrisons between them which might tally to 5,000 men.
30 April 1862
Saphroneth
Banned
30 April
McClellan launches another assault on the Confederate lines around the Turnpike. His artillery arm is reasonably competent given the circumstances, but his infantry are armed very poorly and their morale is consequently not very good.
Most of the brigades bog down in front of the Confederate defensive line (which is armed much better in general, some regiments equipped with brand-new Enfield rifles) and one - part of III Corps - is shattered in moments when caught in a storm of cannister from the guns intended to act as siege weapons. Perhaps a hundred casualties hit the brigade in a matter of seconds as hundreds of half-pound balls rip into them, and their disintegration makes the whole of III Corps go to ground before they suffer the same fate.
The left wing of II Corps (the California brigade, consisting of men from Pennsylvania) manages to penetrate into the defences - largely due to counter-battery fire which fell somewhat short having inflicted casualties on the Confederate defenders - but without support they are contained and a bloody firefight begins (which costs the Union troops more casualties than the Confederate, simply because of the way some Union muskets are non-functional.)
At about 4 pm, McClellan is informed of trouble - the Confederate Army of Eastern Maryland (the army investing DC to the south and east of the turnpike) has 40,000 troops maneuvering against his rear. Mindful of the danger of being trapped and losing his entire force (and possibly assuming that the 40,000 troops may in fact be closer to 60,000), McClellan has V Corps (his reserves) prepare to cover a retreat to the north. (This decision is the cause of blistering semaphore messages between Washington and McClellan, relayed over the heads of the Confederate lines of countervallation. McClellan holds that his army is badly tired by the engagements of the day and will not be able to fight properly if a battle develops tomorrow, Lincoln considers him more willing to retreat than to fight.)
Worse news reaches Washington at 6 pm, when a dispatch from one of the cut-off forts to the west of the Turnpike Gap reaches Washington. The message informs the capital that, as the DC forts were intended to form a ring rather than a set of individual strong points, they were not properly provisioned - and that the entire arc of forts has only a day or so of food left for their substantial garrisons. (It is impossible to resupply by river due to the CSS Virginia, still operating on the Potomac.)
The Governor of Michigan, Austin Blair, is informed that (due to the "inactivity of the region in a military sense compared to the great peril elsewhere") he will need to strip the forces defending Detroit and the Lower Peninsula by at least 20,000 troops so as to form a reinforcement for the Western Theatre. The missive also informs him that he will need to make up the shortfall with his militia - which puzzles him, as he has been requesting weapons for his state for at least two months now and his militia is essentially unarmed (the Army of the Detroit and the Army of the St Clair have almost every firearm in Michigan between them) - but the biggest problem is that such a drastic drawdown would reduce his force by more than half.
The Imperial army in Windsor is also quite large. While Blair does not know the precise size, he does know that it is around the size of his own force as it currently stands - giving up 20,000 troops would render defence impossible.
The ironclads Libra, Scorpio and Pisces enter Lake Ontario, picking up a tow from civilian shipping to conserve fuel and avoid recoaling, and sail for the Welland canal.
McClellan launches another assault on the Confederate lines around the Turnpike. His artillery arm is reasonably competent given the circumstances, but his infantry are armed very poorly and their morale is consequently not very good.
Most of the brigades bog down in front of the Confederate defensive line (which is armed much better in general, some regiments equipped with brand-new Enfield rifles) and one - part of III Corps - is shattered in moments when caught in a storm of cannister from the guns intended to act as siege weapons. Perhaps a hundred casualties hit the brigade in a matter of seconds as hundreds of half-pound balls rip into them, and their disintegration makes the whole of III Corps go to ground before they suffer the same fate.
The left wing of II Corps (the California brigade, consisting of men from Pennsylvania) manages to penetrate into the defences - largely due to counter-battery fire which fell somewhat short having inflicted casualties on the Confederate defenders - but without support they are contained and a bloody firefight begins (which costs the Union troops more casualties than the Confederate, simply because of the way some Union muskets are non-functional.)
At about 4 pm, McClellan is informed of trouble - the Confederate Army of Eastern Maryland (the army investing DC to the south and east of the turnpike) has 40,000 troops maneuvering against his rear. Mindful of the danger of being trapped and losing his entire force (and possibly assuming that the 40,000 troops may in fact be closer to 60,000), McClellan has V Corps (his reserves) prepare to cover a retreat to the north. (This decision is the cause of blistering semaphore messages between Washington and McClellan, relayed over the heads of the Confederate lines of countervallation. McClellan holds that his army is badly tired by the engagements of the day and will not be able to fight properly if a battle develops tomorrow, Lincoln considers him more willing to retreat than to fight.)
Worse news reaches Washington at 6 pm, when a dispatch from one of the cut-off forts to the west of the Turnpike Gap reaches Washington. The message informs the capital that, as the DC forts were intended to form a ring rather than a set of individual strong points, they were not properly provisioned - and that the entire arc of forts has only a day or so of food left for their substantial garrisons. (It is impossible to resupply by river due to the CSS Virginia, still operating on the Potomac.)
The Governor of Michigan, Austin Blair, is informed that (due to the "inactivity of the region in a military sense compared to the great peril elsewhere") he will need to strip the forces defending Detroit and the Lower Peninsula by at least 20,000 troops so as to form a reinforcement for the Western Theatre. The missive also informs him that he will need to make up the shortfall with his militia - which puzzles him, as he has been requesting weapons for his state for at least two months now and his militia is essentially unarmed (the Army of the Detroit and the Army of the St Clair have almost every firearm in Michigan between them) - but the biggest problem is that such a drastic drawdown would reduce his force by more than half.
The Imperial army in Windsor is also quite large. While Blair does not know the precise size, he does know that it is around the size of his own force as it currently stands - giving up 20,000 troops would render defence impossible.
The ironclads Libra, Scorpio and Pisces enter Lake Ontario, picking up a tow from civilian shipping to conserve fuel and avoid recoaling, and sail for the Welland canal.
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Saphroneth
Banned
My assumption at this point is that Blair's going to fudge things a bit and send 20 regiments (i.e. what should be 20,000 troops if they were up to strength, so will be 20,000 full count, but functionally will be more like 12,000 actual infantry due to desertion, attrition and similar) and have a completely defensive posture on the frontiers. With about 25,000 troops defending against 40,000 (better armed) enemy troops, he'll probably be able to gamble things don't end up going drastically wrong.
Both he and the Governor of Ohio will be able to argue reasonably that Detroit and Cleveland are key industrial cities and that they can't simply strip them of defences entirely, not with hostile ironclads on the lakes (thus throwing it back to the naval commanders in charge of holding the Great Lakes, who will blame the commander who launched the Welland Canal attack... everyone's doing their best, but something's going wrong so everyone's looking for a scapegoat).
Both he and the Governor of Ohio will be able to argue reasonably that Detroit and Cleveland are key industrial cities and that they can't simply strip them of defences entirely, not with hostile ironclads on the lakes (thus throwing it back to the naval commanders in charge of holding the Great Lakes, who will blame the commander who launched the Welland Canal attack... everyone's doing their best, but something's going wrong so everyone's looking for a scapegoat).
Saphroneth, the sentence starting with "Perhaps a hundred casualties..." seems to be missing an ending.
1 May 1962
Saphroneth
Banned
1 May
After some confidential discussions, Blair shakes loose around ~12,000 troops in twenty regiments. He argues that this is equivalent to 20,000 troops on paper, and roughly the same response comes from the NY governor (Edwin Morgan) who is not willing to reduce his already-scant forces much further (he does, after all, have the Royal Navy just offshore.)
As a result, the reinforcements sent south amount to 22,000 troops. This is useful, but the original hopes had been for nearly 40,000 to form an army to plug the gap left by Grant's being encircled and cut off.
This new force, the Army of the Barren, is to set up in northern Kentucky.
At about the same time, in Pennsylvania, three newly raised regiments come close to mutiny over their weapon situation. One regiment has been armed with absolutely awful weapons - fowling shotguns, blunderbusses, Indian-made muskets and rusty flintlocks originally derived from spares of the French Army of the 1770s all make an appearance. The other two are given relatively good smoothbore percussion muskets just back from repair, but there are only enough for one regiment - thus, five companies from each regiment are armed with guns and the other five are told to pick up the discarded weapons in battle.
After some hours of tense talks, the guns are divided between two of the regiments and the third will wait in the camps until some firearms can be procured for them.
Morale remains low.
The arc of forts from Rockville to the Potomac runs out of food. The ranking officer considers surrender to be the only viable option, and accordingly passes word down the line that they will need to be ready to destroy their stocks of weapons and ammunition.
After some confidential discussions, Blair shakes loose around ~12,000 troops in twenty regiments. He argues that this is equivalent to 20,000 troops on paper, and roughly the same response comes from the NY governor (Edwin Morgan) who is not willing to reduce his already-scant forces much further (he does, after all, have the Royal Navy just offshore.)
As a result, the reinforcements sent south amount to 22,000 troops. This is useful, but the original hopes had been for nearly 40,000 to form an army to plug the gap left by Grant's being encircled and cut off.
This new force, the Army of the Barren, is to set up in northern Kentucky.
At about the same time, in Pennsylvania, three newly raised regiments come close to mutiny over their weapon situation. One regiment has been armed with absolutely awful weapons - fowling shotguns, blunderbusses, Indian-made muskets and rusty flintlocks originally derived from spares of the French Army of the 1770s all make an appearance. The other two are given relatively good smoothbore percussion muskets just back from repair, but there are only enough for one regiment - thus, five companies from each regiment are armed with guns and the other five are told to pick up the discarded weapons in battle.
After some hours of tense talks, the guns are divided between two of the regiments and the third will wait in the camps until some firearms can be procured for them.
Morale remains low.
The arc of forts from Rockville to the Potomac runs out of food. The ranking officer considers surrender to be the only viable option, and accordingly passes word down the line that they will need to be ready to destroy their stocks of weapons and ammunition.
Saphroneth
Banned
It's one of those things which frankly makes purely logical sense - it means their regiments can sustain their real number of shooters in the face of casualties - but which is utterly devastating to morale.
This is what a small arms dearth does to you when you're facing radically superior numbers.
Incidentally, one of the things I'm trying to do with the US's force allocation is make sure they don't open themselves up to a British (or Confederate) end-run - by which I mean, the capture of NY or Cleveland or Detroit would be devastating; a fully undefended landing point within fifty miles of DC or Philadelphia or Springfield or West Point means the critical risk of a wholesale capture of one of those points, and so on.
So their coastal force allocation is the minimum required to defend that, and similarly they're stripping their northern frontier to the bone. If the British knew about how thin the defences are they'd be able to cut off and capture New England with ease!
I love that this TL. It shows that, even if in the long run the US could have probably hold its own against the CSA and Britain, in the short run they're completely screwed. Robert Conroy, much as he's my favorite author, really dropped the ball in 1862 by showing the US defeating both countries in a single year like it was nothing.
Saphroneth
Banned
Here's some information I've recently discovered, which makes the American forts if anything rather more vulnerable than I was assuming - the Armstrong 110-lber gun can put shell eighteen feet into earthwork.
Here's the penetration (all figures for shells against artificial clay breastwork):
110-lber 18 feet
40-ber 11 feet 8 inch
10" shell gun 11 feet
68-lber HV gun 15 feet
8" shell gun 11 1/2 feet
32-lber shell gun 9 1/2 feet
All natural earth formations were more resistant than the artificial earthwork.
Here's the penetration (all figures for shells against artificial clay breastwork):
110-lber 18 feet
40-ber 11 feet 8 inch
10" shell gun 11 feet
68-lber HV gun 15 feet
8" shell gun 11 1/2 feet
32-lber shell gun 9 1/2 feet
All natural earth formations were more resistant than the artificial earthwork.
Saphroneth
Banned
Some Americans of the time apparently believed that their country was able to manufacture large numbers of modern rifles - and were rather disappointed.
Regardless, some real US infantry were given unconverted flintlocks in the OTL ACW.
"I have a half-dozen regiments ready to move and not a gun for them. The last one sent to Anderson he armed with flint-lock muskets. The recruiting business in Indiana will stop if guns are not furnished." (O.P. Morton, September 25 1861, series 3 vol. 1 p. 539).
That number will only increase TTL.
Regarding earthwork defences, a few points/questions:
1. Depending on availability of labour, it's not hard to build a basic protective earthwork but this really just provides protection for troops from the ballistic effects of explosions (sandbags are still used for this now). In other words, if the shell explodes inside the earth, the shrapnel will largely not be an issue. If it gets through before exploding, that's a different matter, which brings us to the next point.
2. It takes some planning, and the right location, to build an earthwork which contains the effects of shells which penetrate through. Long straight lines are bad, lots of corners are good - but this then takes up much more area.
3. Earthworks won't protect against mortars, but did ships normally carry those?
4. Presumably you're considering having the Union build some earthworks around already existing forts to provide some extra ballistic protection. Otherwise there are a few additional problems:
I can't really see why earthworks would be considered worthwhile by the Union. They would take up labour which could more profitably be used in other areas. However, maybe putting some earth in front of the walls of forts might be considered to provide some protection and be worth it?
1. Depending on availability of labour, it's not hard to build a basic protective earthwork but this really just provides protection for troops from the ballistic effects of explosions (sandbags are still used for this now). In other words, if the shell explodes inside the earth, the shrapnel will largely not be an issue. If it gets through before exploding, that's a different matter, which brings us to the next point.
2. It takes some planning, and the right location, to build an earthwork which contains the effects of shells which penetrate through. Long straight lines are bad, lots of corners are good - but this then takes up much more area.
3. Earthworks won't protect against mortars, but did ships normally carry those?
4. Presumably you're considering having the Union build some earthworks around already existing forts to provide some extra ballistic protection. Otherwise there are a few additional problems:
a. More than just 'trenches' behind earthworks are needed. Troops need places to sleep, prepare and eat food, etc. Ammunition storage is needed, which obviously needs to be behind as much protection as possible.
b. Heavy guns can't just be put anywhere on an earthwork. They need to sit on solid surfaces (preferably stone/brick/concrete, but at least good solid wood) and have good arcs of fire. A hastily thrown-up earthwork won't have reinforced gun embrasures, so there will be points of vulnerability where the guns are sited. If there aren't any guns (or enough to cover all approaches), the site will be essentially undefended from bombardment.
b. Heavy guns can't just be put anywhere on an earthwork. They need to sit on solid surfaces (preferably stone/brick/concrete, but at least good solid wood) and have good arcs of fire. A hastily thrown-up earthwork won't have reinforced gun embrasures, so there will be points of vulnerability where the guns are sited. If there aren't any guns (or enough to cover all approaches), the site will be essentially undefended from bombardment.
I can't really see why earthworks would be considered worthwhile by the Union. They would take up labour which could more profitably be used in other areas. However, maybe putting some earth in front of the walls of forts might be considered to provide some protection and be worth it?