What to see: The USS Constellation occupies a primo location in Baltimore Harbor, where tours take in its nearly 200 feet in length. It was active until 1955, when it finally was decommissioned. With 22 guns and three soaring masts, it was the Navy’s last sail-only warship ever built–and the last Civil War ship still afloat. After a brief respite back home, the Constellation headed back to the Mediterranean, where it spent most of the rest of the war protecting American interests. Its capture of the slave brig Triton in 1861 was one of the war’s first captures. Navy’s African Squadron at the start of the Civil War. USS Constellation USS ConstellationĬommissioned in 1855 and incorporating small fragments of the 1797 frigate USS Constellation, this beautifully restored sloop-of-war served as flagship of the U.S. Here are four ships that played important roles in the Civil War’s maritime war, all of which can be visited today. As the war progressed, battles unfurled on the sea as well as the land, and many argue that “Uncle Sam’s wet feet” (as Lincoln called the Union army) helped to defeat the Confederacy. One of the greatest developments? The ironclad ship, which could fend off explosive shells capable of sinking the toughest wooden ships. But at the war’s outbreak, both sides realized the strategic importance of the sea, to cut off supply routes, control rivers, and support land operations. Neither the North nor the South had much of a navy before the Civil War.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |