JULY 16TH
Commander Bulloch awarded contract to Lucien Arman, a naval contractor at Bordeaux, France, for construction of "two steam rams, hulls of wood and iron, 300 horsepower, two propellers, with two armored turrets...." The general plans for the ships had been drawn up by Commander M.F. Maury and approved by Secretary Mallory.
The ships had to have at least a speed of 12 knots in calm seas.
Only one, however, the CSS Stonewall ever reached Confederate hands. She arrived in Havana late in the war and never assisted the Confederacy and was later handed over to the Union.
Not possessing the materials and industrial capacity to build a Navy capable of breaking the North's blockade, the South turned increasingly to Europe.
Old B-R'er
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