TFSmith does not understand how blockades work.
Worse, he does not understand even the physical reality of what a
blockade is composed of. Ships.
In Burnished Rows of Steel, we are told that the ironclad Galena
is part of the “Home Squadron” based in New York. This
Galena is the historical Galena, and would certainly have been in
commission by that point, so what is the problem?
The problem is simple. The Galena
was built at Mystic, Connecticut, which is at the far eastern end of
Long Island Sound (actually slightly outside it) and did not enter
commission until 21 April 1862 – this commission was also badly
rushed, leaving her with balky engines and with problems with her
design that needed to be corrected upon arriving in Hampton Roads. We
can thus assume she would complete at about the same time in this
timeline.
As per a previous post
we know roughly where the blockaders
should have been, and we also know roughly where TFSmith places them.
Washington's advice:
'The line-of-battle ship might lie
in safety in Fisher Sound, under the lee of Fisher Island, and the
smaller vessels might watch the three passages between the islands
which protect the entrance.'
(Captain Washington laid out the
requirements for the blockade as consisting of one line of battle
ship, one frigate, one corvette or sloop, and two gunboats. Milne
uplifted his requirement so each squadron should have 2-3
ships of force; 2 corvettes "of Cadmus class"; 3 sloops "of
Rinaldo class"; 1 gunvessel; 2-3 paddle steamers, but
we will use the simpler version here.)
These positions, on a map, are as
follows:
As should be immediately clear, the
route taken by the Galena
takes her right past the battleship. With her top speed of eight
knots, the Galena
would be unable to avoid engagement except by hugging the shore, and
doing so would allow the lighter vessels of the blockade line to
concentrate on her – certainly it would not be possible to easily
make it the eighty-plus nautical miles to New York itself, especially as
almost all British sloops, corvettes, frigates and battleships have a
higher list speed than the Galena
even before the ironclad's balky engines are taken into account.
As has already been covered,
however, TFSmith has his own ideas for the positions of ships on the
blockade. He is quite vague
about the specifics, but it is clear that there is an outer blockade
line consisting of Hero,
Ariadne and Mersey
and an inner blockade line including Meteor,
Lily and Osprey.
It is also clear that the two blockade lines are within signal range
of one another by means of rockets and gunnery.
It is also clear that Meteor
in particular is near Fishers Island, though as per the post the
precise location is unclear. However, we have enough to make the
following picture:
For obvious reasons, this is not a
hundred percent definitive as TFSmith states that Hero,
Mersey and Ariadne
are guarding the three
entrances to Long Island Sound around Block Island, but there are
only two entrances to Long Island Sound around Block Island. The
marked area can be seen as a worst case in terms of intercepting the
Galena as it is
further out than any other option.
It should be immediately clear that
Meteor is almost
directly athwart Galena's
planned route, and would be able to engage her. Since Galena
is faster, she might be able to run past; however, if alerted, the
ships of the outer blockade line would be able to come in as they in turn are
faster than Galena.
Both Mersey and
Ariadne have list
speeds in excess of thirteen knots, and Hero
has a list speed of 11.7 knots (via Busk's Navies of the World) and
would make up between 3.7 and 5.3 nautical miles on the Galena
per hour in a stern chase – assuming that Galena's
machinery does not break down.
The distance from Block Island to
the inner New York defences in Long Island Sound is slightly over one
hundred nautical miles, and the distance for Galena's
run is almost eighty-five; with this in mind, there is essentially no
way in which the Galena
can win a stern chase. (The time taken for Galena
to reach the inner defences is 10.5 hours; the time for Mersey
to do the same, starting at Block Island, is eight. Galena
would be overtaken at some point before or around Bridgeport, over
thirty nautical miles from safety.)
This is partly because TFSmith's own choice has placed two of the Royal Navy's fastest frigates right here.
In not realizing this, TFSmith has
failed to properly appreciate that blockades are intended to stop
ships moving in and out of them. It is also a tragic missed
opportunity, as it would allow one of three things:
1) A battle in which the British do
not simply get
flattened, and in which the flaws of the Galena
perhaps even give them some unwarranted confidence.
2) An exciting, tense situation by
moonlight as the Galena
creeps out of Mystic without alerting the British blockaders.
3) The Galena
stuck in Mystic, unable to leave without the mounting of a rescue
mission – one which the Union could reasonably debate internally
about launching.
Of course, if the British had
actually moved in January as they intended to do, a fourth option
would present itself:
4) The British raid the undefended
Mystic and burn the Galena before she is completed.
But this would never do, of course.
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