Confederate Navy Forms

CSS Alabama

As the new Confederacy began to form, one of the things that they needed was a navy. At the time of secession the North had around 90 ships, while the South had only 14 which were seaworthy. There were few Southerners in the US navy as opposed to the army, therefore only few naval officers came South. The only shipyard in the South was in Pensacola, Florida. Unfortunately for the South it was under the guns of Fort Pickens, one of the forts which the North still held onto. The new nation was almost starting from scratch in building this important part of their military defense.

The largest city in the South at the time was New Orleans, therefore one of the first projects of the Confederate Naval Department was to prepare the naval defense of that city. Therefore agents were sent to purchase or build gunboats to assist in that defense. These agents arrived in New Orleans 150 years ago today, on March 17, 1861.