Launching the Confederate Navy
David Woodward describes how the Confederacy's hope of continuing to exist depended upon gaining command of the sea and of vital coastal and inland waters.
On February 4th, the first seven of the American States to leave the Union met at Montgomery in Alabama and formed the Confederate States of America. On February 21st, they established the Confederate States Navy with Stephen R. Mallory, formerly chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee of Naval Affairs, as Secretary of the Navy.
The creation of the new navy was a matter of urgency; for the Confederacy’s hope of continuing to exist depended upon gaining command of the sea and of vital coastal and inland waters.
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