No arm of the national service has done such good work and
brought about so successful results since the war commenced as the iron clad
gunboats. And the only objection which
can be found to the recent appropriation of ten millions of dollars by Congress
for the purpose of increasing our navy in this direction is, it is too
small. These boats are not hereafter to
be viewed in the light of an experiment.
They have been tried, and the trial has been more than satisfactory. And what is not a little singular, while
England has made such an ado over her iron-clad ships, we have put iron plated
vessels to the test of an actual fight before her. It is not to be wondered that the rebels of
Kentucky and Tennessee dread Commodore Foote’s little fleet, for the power of
offensive and defensive operations evinced by the gunboats, was something
entirely new in the history of naval battles.
During the attack on Fort Henry a 128 pound ball struck the Cincinnati
and although the vessel trembled from stem to stern, the plates turned the ball
aside and it did no damage. And the only
balls which found their way into the boats were those which struck where there
was no casing.
Our naval architects have always favored the plating of
gunboats and small vessels rather than frigates, and as the event has proved
with good reason. The British frigate
Warrior leaked badly on her trial trip and the French frigate La Gloire, which
has already cost a mint of money had to be stripped of her armor for the same
reason and some new arrangement of the plates to be tried. But our gunboats are open to no such
objections of this kind and seem destined to become the most important and
popular branch of our naval service.
Several vessels of this class are now in process of construction and it
is expected that in a few months we shall have on the ocean a fleet of twenty
iron-clad, light draft gunboats, besides those on the western waters. This will do very well for a beginning, but
congress should see to it that we have more of them built immediately. If we don’t need them to crush out the
rebellion, we may want them to look after the allies in Mexico, and it would be
well to have them ready.
Great expectations are also placed on the operations of the
new mortar boats, which are yet to be tried.
They carry heavier guns than the gunboats, higher placed and more of
them, and will, it is expected prove of much more value in attacking strong
fortifications, and those considerably elevated above the water, like the
defences of Columbus. The mortars they
carry will throw a 13-inch shell three miles, and at this distance the boats
themselves would present no available mark for ordinary guns, so that they
would be almost out of the reach of danger while themselves dealing out death
and destruction. There are two mortar
fleets already constructed – one on the western waters, which seems likely to
be tried soon at Columbus, and the other under the command of Com. Porter,
which has gone round to Ship Island. New
Orleans may receive a visual from both of these fleets soon, and if she is wise
she will not withstand their battering powers.
If, after trial, these boats prove useful as the iron-clad gunboats, the
rebels have nowhere any fortifications that can stand against them and it would
be fool hardiness to attempt resistance when their guns are brought to bear.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 8, 1862, p. 3
