"What was the biggest naval battle of the ACW?" Topic

I realize there were no engagements with lots of ships, but were there any with, say, 10? 6? 4?

Mobile bay?

Mobile Bay – Lots of union ships forcing the pass between the forts and the Confederates had one ironclad and some minor ships (potential for another ironclad for a what-if).

Galveston, several wooden rams involved.

New Orleans, large union fleet passing the forts with a few Confederate ships in opposition. Could add some what-ifs to make it more interesting.

Charleston, mainly union fleet versus the forts, but also the potential for some what-ifs.

If you want a lot of ships, I suggest you go the what-if route.

Yes, the actions at Plum Point (May 10, 1862) and Memphis (June 6, 1862) on the Mississippi River between the Confederate River Defense Fleet and the Union Mississippi River Squadron.

Plum Point -- 8 Confederate rams versus 7 Union ironclads in a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Union boats.

Memphis -- 8 Confederate rams versus 5 Union ironclads (two were still under repair after Plum Point) and 4 rams (reinforcements after Plum Point) in the decisive battle on the upper Mississippi.

The Confederates "technically" won at Plum Point, sinking two Union ironclads, albeit in shallow water, with no losses. At Memphis, the Union destroyed the Confederate fleet, capturing or sinking seven of the eight Confederate rams, while only suffering the disabling of the ram Queen of the West and the wounding and later death of Col Charles Ellet, Jr., commander of the Union ram flotilla.

This would make an interesting campaign.

At the smaller end, the CSS Arkansas versus a small Union flotilla on the Yazoo River (Jul 15, 1862). Union opposition was initially the ironclad Carondolet, the gunboat Tyler, and the ram Queen of the West. Later that day, the Arkansas ran through the combined Union fleet (Farragut's ocean going vessels) and Davis' ironclads and rams before sheltering under the guns of Vicksburg.

You've also got some "what-ifs" with the CSS Arkansas and/or the "first" CSS Tennessee being ready to fight by either Plum Point or Memphis.

Jim

When I was in college in Memphis soon after the earth cooled, I read a story in "The Commercial Appeal" about a man who uncovered some artillery shells from the ACW naval battle in his garden. He decided to use them as fireplace end irons. Unfortunately, the shells were UXO. It didn't end well.

Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, but he lost one side of his house.

The naval battle of Roanoke Island actually had a large number of vessels (19x Union vs. 9x Confederate vessels plus shore batteries), though most of them were small, and it was still a one-sided Union walkover.

- Ix

The two attacks on Fort Fisher (guarding Wilmington, NC) involved very large Union fleets: the first battle involved 60 Union vessels, the second battle 56 Union vessels.

These really were just shore bombardments, not naval battles, too one-sided and boring for a wargame. (I have a vague idea to wargame the Battle of Fort Fisher as a whole sea/land combined arms operation, but I'm a long way from pulling that together.)

There were two ironclads built at Wilmington (CSS North Carolina and CSS Raleigh); both sank in 1864 before the attacks on Wilmington, one rotted at anchor and the other run hard aground and abandoned. These could pose some interesting "what if" problems for the Union in an operational scenario to take Wilmington. The one sortie of CSS Raleigh is a small but interesting scenario (3 vs. 6) that might be worth replaying. It's also not hard to posit a "what if" with both ironclads and a couple gunboats sortieing against a blockading squadron of 6-8 vessels to break the blockade; this is certainly the kind of thing the Confederates hoped to do in 1864.

- Ix

In addition to Roanoke Island, there was a continuation of naval action between the Confederate "Mosquito Fleet" and portions of the Union fleet. This was called the Battle of Elizabeth City, link , and saw the complete destruction of the "Mosquito Fleet." Only one or two vessels on the Confederate side had more than 1 gun mounted. Interestingly enough, only 1 ship was sunk at Roanoke, the CSS Curlew. This gives you some idea of how inaccurate the gunnery was for both. Both sides were low and ammunition after fighting at Roanoke and this heavily influenced the fighting at Elizabeth City.

What about the Red River campaign? Any significant actions there.
The old Ironclads game had scenarios in it. The unpunched copies are at my store so I will check them Tuesday.

The Red River campaign did feature a cavalry vs ironclad action. I don't think that would make a great scenario.

A favorite to game is the what if at Trents reach. Multiple ships. Did, almost, happen. Interesting ships. Torpedo craft, double turret monitor, multiple confederate ironclads, etc.