Battle of Mobile Bay

Introduction

Battle of the Mobile Bay was held during the American Civil War. The battle was fought on August 5th 1864 and was supposed to block belonging to the Confederate port of Mobile, lying on the bay of the same name. It was one of the main starting points for blockade runners and protects the Gulf of Mexico on two islands with the opposite Forts Gaines and Morgan. About the Alabama troops were easier to Selma, Alabama and shipped from there by train to March or Atlanta are laid, Georgia, which was besieged in 1864 during the Atlanta campaign. The capture of the port of Mobile Bay would mean cutting off this supply train of the Confederacy (Wakefield, 2000, pp. 78 - 87).

Moreover, the supreme commander of the West Gulf blockading fleet was Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut the construction of additional armored ships in Mobile Bay before coming. The plan was the capture of the port and two forts in the vicinity. Farragut recognized on inspection that to the blockade maintaining sailing ships, reinforcement by landing troops and especially by ironclads was required in addition to patrolling outside the harbor. At this time, the Confederates were hardly naval forces available. Farragut recognized the opportunity and called for reinforcement by landing troops.

Discussion and Analysis

In the bay after an attack of three Confederate gunboats i.e. Selma, Gaines and Morgan, the Union fleet was repulsed without any major problems. Morgan managed to escape; the Gaines ran on a sandbank and was destroyed by its own crew. The Selma surrendered after the captain was seriously wounded. The last line of defense was the CSS Tennessee, the flagship of Admiral Franklin Buchanan. She tried unsuccessfully to ram the USS Hartford. The much lighter sailors could avoid it without problems. In the ...