NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



597 



The most important operations of the navy 

 during the year were those performed by the 

 North Atlantic Squadron, acting in cooperation 

 with the large land force under Gen. Terry, 

 in the successful attack upon Fort Fisher, on 

 January 13th and 15th, of which, as they were 

 intimately connected with the history of the 

 first attack, in December, 1864, a full account 

 was given, under the head Qf " Operations of 

 the United States Navy," in our volume for 



1864. Of this remarkable attack full details, 

 not accessible when our narrative was written, 

 were included in the documents accompanying 

 the report of the Secretary of the Navy for 



1865. Although the vessels participating in 

 that engagement varied in size from small gun- 

 boats of five hundred tons to powerful frigates 

 like the Wabash or Colorado, or the New Iron- 

 sides, yet in weight of metal and in the rapidity 

 and force of their fire they probably exceeded 

 any fleet that ever attacked fortifications. The 

 accompanying diagram illustrates the position 

 of every vessel in the attack, and the manner 

 in which their fire was concentrated upon the 

 fort. The attacking squadron numbered forty- 

 four vessels, mounting upward of five hundred 

 guns. Admiral Porter declared that the same 

 fleet which was used at Fort Fisher could silence 

 Fortress Monroe, considered the strongest and 

 most important work in the United States, in a 

 day, and dismount all the conspicuous guns ; 

 and that the iron-clads could demolish all the 

 casemates in a few hours. The result of the 

 engagement convinced him that the old maxim, 

 that "one gun on shore is equal to many on 

 shipboard," was no longer true, at least with 

 respect to forts of earth or masonry, having 

 guns mounted according to the present system ; 

 and that turrets, similar to those in monitor 

 vessels, must be employed to protect the guns 

 of land defences from such a fire as an effective 

 fleet of iron-clads can concentrate upon them. 

 In view of the experience derived at Fort Fisher, 

 he advised that all works hereafter constructed 



( shall be earthworks, and that those already 

 ' built shall be covered with earth, the guns to 

 be mounted in monitor turrets, which can be 

 constructed of any thickness of iron deemed 

 necessary. In this way only, he thinks, can 

 the advantage formerly possessed by forts over 

 ships be restored. The fall of Fort Fisher com- 

 pelled the abandonment by the enemy of Forts 

 Caswell, Campbell, and Shaw, and other works 

 defending the entrances to Cape Fear Kiver, 

 which were immediately occupied by the navy. 

 In February a number of the light-draught ves- 

 sels ascended the river and cooperated with the 

 troops under Gens. Schofield and Terry in the 

 reduction of the strong works guarding the ap- 

 proaches to Wilmington. The capture of this 

 place in the latter part of the month enabled 

 Admiral Porter to rcenforce the squadron in 

 the James Eiver. The enemy upon their re- 

 treat from Wilmington took the large iron-clad 

 Chickamauga some distance up the Cape Fear 

 Eiver, and sunk her across the stream at Indian 



Wells. On March 12th the gunboat Eolus pass- 

 ed safely up the river and opened communi- 

 cations with Gen. Sherman, at Fayetteville. 

 Nothing else of interest in which the navy par- 

 ticipated occurred on this station previous to 

 the termination of hostilities. In the latter 

 part of March Admiral Porter went up the 

 James Eiver, to superintend whatever duties 

 might devolve upon the navy in the final series 

 of battles around Petersburg and Richmond. 

 As the operations were. almost exclusively of a 

 military character, his vessels were not actively 

 employed. After the evacuation of Richmond, 

 the gunboats proceeded up the river, removing 

 torpedoes and other obstructions to navigation. 

 At Richmond the unfinished ram Texas, and 

 the tug gunboat Beaufort, were found unin- 

 jured. The following vessels had been blown 

 up by the enemy : Virginia, flagship, four guns, 

 iron-clad ; Richmond, four guns, iron-clad ; 

 Fredericksburg, four guns, iron-clad; Nanse- 

 mond, two guns, wooden; Roanoke, one gun, 

 wooden ; Torpedo, tender ; Shrapnell ; and 

 Patrick Henry, school-ship. 



The operations of the South Atlantic Squad- 

 ron had little of that stirring character notice- 

 able in former years of the war. Admiral 

 Dahlgren rendered efficient service in January 

 in transferring a part of Sherman's army to 

 Beaufort, S. C. ; and in the succeeding month a. 

 division of -his squadron demonstrated along the 

 approaches from Bull's Bay to Mount Pleasant, 

 with a view of embarrassing the Confederate 

 commander at Charleston and deceiving him as 

 to the Federal plan of campaign. The city was 

 meanwhile carefully watched, and on the morn- 

 ing of February 18th it fell without a struggle 

 into the hands of the naval and military forces 

 of the United States. Previous to their de- 

 parture from Charleston, the enemy destroyed 

 most of their effective vessels afloat; but 'the 

 ram Columbia, which had grounded in coming 

 out of her dock in January, was left by them, 

 and was floated on the 26th of April. She was 

 pierced for six guns, and was plated on her 

 casemate with six inches of iron. The harbor 

 was found to be plentifully filled with obstruc- 

 tions, and the numerous powerful earthworks, 

 which had so long defied the efforts of the fleet, 

 were uninjured. Georgetown and other places 

 on the coast were immediately occupied by the 

 gunboats. On the night of January 15th, the 

 monitor Patapsco, Lieut.-Com. Quackenbush, 

 while engaged in covering the scout and picket 

 boats, which were searching the entrance to 

 the lower harbor of Charleston for obstructions 

 and torpedoes, struck and exploded a large 

 torpedo on her port side, and almost immedi- 

 ately sank. Five officers and thirty-eight men 

 were saved, and sixty-two officers and men were 

 lost. Two other vessels were lost during the 

 year. The Dai Ching gunboat, having grounded 

 in the Combahee River, under the fire of a 

 Confederate battery, was destroyed by her com- 

 mander, after she had been much cut up and 

 her guns disabled in a seven hours' engagement. 



