Attack On USS New Ironsides
The attack on USS ''New Ironsides'' in October 1863 was one of the first successful torpedo boat engagements in history. Confederate forces in Charleston, South Carolina deployed the newly built semi-submersible CSS ''David'' to attach a spar torpedo to the hull of USS ''New Ironsides''. Though the attack is regarded as a rebel victory, the Union ship was saved from serious damage. Attack Because it was a great impediment to Confederate commerce and warfare, there was no choice but to try to lift the Union blockade in any way possible. CSS ''David'' was one of the South's secret weapons. Similar to the submarine ''H.L. Hunley'', the boat was designed to destroy enemy ships by stealthily sneaking up to their sides and placing an explosive on their hulls. The ''David'' was only fifty feet long with a beam of six feet and a draft of five feet. Her crew consisted of just four officers and men. She was under the command of Lieutenant William T. Glassell during her three year ...
[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  

American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states that had seceded. The central cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing so, which was widely believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction. Decades of political controversy over slavery were brought to a head by the victory in the 1860 U.S. presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery's expansion into the west. An initial seven southern slave states responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding from the United States and, in 1861, forming the Confederacy. The Confederacy seized U.S. forts and other federal assets within their borders. Led by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, ...
[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]