Saturday, April 6, 2013

How to Deal With Those Pesky Confederate Torpedoes

From the Civil War Naval Chronology.

From this date 1863.

Asst. Secretary of the Navy Fox wrote Commodore Rowan about a method to counter Confederate torpedoes at Mobile:  "It strikes me that a small grapnel might be thrown several hundred yards ahead and hauled in so as to break connections of their torpedoes.  A small charge of powder. a wooden sabot, a grapnel and chain fast on a line, fired from a XV-inch gun, are all the elements. 

I advise you to prepare these arrangements, for you certainly will find torpedoes near Fort Morgan."

Words well-spoken, as there were indeed torpedoes by Fort Morgan, the ones Admiral Farragut so damned in 1864.

The big ironclad battle at Charleston took place 150 years ago tomorrow.  This being one of the bugger naval battles, I will go ahead and write about it tomorrow, even though I usually take Sundays off.

Pesky Torpedoes All Over the Place.  --Old B-Runner

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