Warships Quotes
He was not aware of it but the Union War Department had prepared well and additional ironclad ships under construction of which the Monitor was just the first. Lincoln had approved the construction of ironclads on October 4, 1861. The Confederate Merrimack was larger and to the layman was the stronger ship but the Monitor did some damage and drove the Confederate Merrimac from the field to make repairs. The Confederacy, with minimal industrial steel-making capacity could not produce enough steel to protect more ships than the one ironclad Merrimack. The Union Navy, not only were building more Monitor class ships, but also, had a few Merrimack type wooden ships being iron clad as well as their Monitors as Strong had called for. The Union soon totally dominated the seas and as important, the rivers with which they could supply Union troops and bombard Confederate cities built thereupon.
Dreadnoughts were huge battleships. Britain had the dominant navy of the world and controlled the seas. A European war would be a land war where a navy would be of little use. Hence, Britain would not want to get involved in such a war where she could not use her greatest military strength. He was wrong about this and so much else. Britain entered WWI when Germany invaded Belgium fulfilling her treaty obligations. The Germans intelligence operators and analysts were well aware of the treaty obligations, but had little understanding of English culture and tradition. The German aggression against a small power like Belgium was morally offensive to many in Great Britain, and Britain had a tradition of fighting for moral principles. The Germans would never militarily disadvantage themselves for the sake of a treaty obligation to a small nation, and they did not believe that the British would be so different and fulfill their treaty obligations even though their strongest military asset—their navy would not be very helpful.
This quotation not only gives us an interesting description and reaction to the first generation of ironclad ships, but we get an insight into the amazingly open access that was available to the most important new weapon of the Union. Apparently, there was still hope of a Southern cessation of fighting and rejoining the Union, and the aim was to get as much publicity about the new weapon as possible to the Confederates to persuade them of the futility of their situation. The North could manufacture as many of these vessels as they needed, while Confederates could only refit wooden ships with metal siding. There were few ships that were suitable for such refitting and the ironworks of the South were limited and needed for cannon, railroad tracks and other uses all competing for limited production capacity. Hawthorne went on board the Monitor without making any special arrangements at all. He just showed up and went aboard.
