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    Torpedoes

    Uploaded by

    Bob Andrepont
    The document summarizes the sinking of the USS CAIRO by a Confederate mine in the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862. It was the first time an armed warship was sunk by a mine. The mine was a simple device, like a jug filled with gunpowder anchored in the river. It was detonated electrically when a soldier completed a circuit. According to a young crew member, the explosion crushed the ship's bow and it sank within 12 minutes. Confederate mines, or torpedoes as they were called, sank numerous other Union vessels throughout the Civil War.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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    Torpedoes

    Uploaded by

    Bob Andrepont
    232 views2 pages
    The document summarizes the sinking of the USS CAIRO by a Confederate mine in the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862. It was the first time an armed warship was sunk by a mine. The mine was a simple device, like a jug filled with gunpowder anchored in the river. It was detonated electrically when a soldier completed a circuit. According to a young crew member, the explosion crushed the ship's bow and it sank within 12 minutes. Confederate mines, or torpedoes as they were called, sank numerous other Union vessels throughout the Civil War.

    Original Description:

    National Park Service brochure on torpedoes (water mines).

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    The document summarizes the sinking of the USS CAIRO by a Confederate mine in the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862. It was the first time an armed warship was sunk by a mine. The mine was a simple device, like a jug filled with gunpowder anchored in the river. It was detonated electrically when a soldier completed a circuit. According to a young crew member, the explosion crushed the ship's bow and it sank within 12 minutes. Confederate mines, or torpedoes as they were called, sank numerous other Union vessels throughout the Civil War.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    232 views2 pages

    Torpedoes

    Uploaded by

    Bob Andrepont
    The document summarizes the sinking of the USS CAIRO by a Confederate mine in the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862. It was the first time an armed warship was sunk by a mine. The mine was a simple device, like a jug filled with gunpowder anchored in the river. It was detonated electrically when a soldier completed a circuit. According to a young crew member, the explosion crushed the ship's bow and it sank within 12 minutes. Confederate mines, or torpedoes as they were called, sank numerous other Union vessels throughout the Civil War.

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    Vicksburg

    "DAMN THE TORPEDOES!" "Full speed ahead!"


    Admiral David G. Farragut Mobile Bay, Alabama August 5, 1864

    National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Vicksburg National Military Park

    Rains keg torpedo. This example of the most widely used mine, on land or sea, was found in August, 1863, near Charleston.

    Infernal Machines

    11:55 AM December 12, 1862, a new chapter in naval warfare was written. For the first time an armed warship was sunk by a mine. The mine, an inexpensive but clever device, was probably nothing more than a five gallon jug filled with gunpowder anchored in the Yazoo River. Insulated wires ran from the mine to shore, where a soldier watched and waited. As the USS CAIRO moved through the muddy waters of the Yazoo River, the Confederate soldier hit a plunger completing the circuit on a galvanic battery. The electrical impulse raced through the wires and detonated the mine. What was it like on the gunboat when the explosion ripped through her bow? Through the words of the youngest crew member, fifteen year old George Yost, we can see that historic moment.

    It Only Took 12 Minutes


    "...just as we were training on the battery we were struck by a torpedo, which exploded under our starboard bow, a few feet from the center and some 35 or 40 feet from the bow proper just under our provision store room, which crushed in the bottom of the boat so that the water rushed in like the roar of Niagara. In five minutes the Hold was full of water and the forward part of the gunboat was flooded...One of our heaviest bow guns had been dismounted by the force of the explosion injuring three men." "Executive Officer Hiram K. Hazlett and the writer were the last two persons to leave the sinking vessel which we did by jumping into the "dingey" which was manned by two sailors, and awaited us at the stern...We moved off just in time to escape being swallowed up in the seething caldron of foaming water... Nothing of the CAIRO could be seen 12 minutes after the first explosion, excepting the smoke stacks, and the flag staff from which still floated the flag above the troubled waters."

    The type of torpedo that sank the U.S.S. CAIRO. (From a sketch in the "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies.")

    Confederate Torpedoes

    Faced with a small navy and a scarcity of warships, the Confederacy was forced to rely on a few heavily-armored rams and ingenious "infernal machines" for inland water and coastal defense. The "infernal machines" were called torpedoes in the 1860's; today we know them as mines. The variety of Civil War torpedoes was almost endless. Most were anchored in stationary positions, or carried into action on long poles or spars by warships. The torpedoes could be detonated by friction devices, and some were even electrically detonated.

    Fretwell-Singer torpedo. The plunger was activated when an iron weight was knocked from the top of the air chamber.

    The infernal machines were not taken seriously by the Union Navy until the morning of December 12, 1862. The sinking of the CAIRO changed their perceptions. During the remainder of the Civil War, Confederate torpedoes were responsible for the destruction of numerous Union vessels. They were inexpensive to produce, but were deadly. The Union Navy had learned to fear and respect the "infernal machines."

    Friction torpedo activated by an operator ashore who pulled a lanyard.

    Floating tin torpedo. Current torpedo, designed to float against enemy ships. The propeller, turned by the current, released a spring-driven plunger. Horological torpedo captured in the St. John's River, February, 1864.

    UNION VESSELS SUNK BY CONFEDERATE TORPEDOES

    Date
    Dec 12, 1862 July 13, 1863 Feb 17, 1863 Apr 1, 1864 Apr 15, 1864 Apr 16, 1864 May 9, 1864 June 19, 1864 Aug 5, 1864 Aug 9, 1864 Aug 9, 1864 Nov 27, 1864

    Vessel
    CAIRO Gunboat BARON DE KALB Gunboat HOUSATONIC Sloop of War MAPLE LEAF Army Transport EASTPORT Gunboat GENERAL HUNT Army Transport H.A. WEED Army Transport ALICE PRICE Army Transport TECUMSEH Monitor Ammunition Transport LEWIS Supply Ship GREYHOUND Army Transport

    Location
    Yazoo River, Mississippi Yazoo River, Mississippi Charleston, South Carolina St. Johns River, Florida Red River, Louisiana St. Johns River, Florida St. Johns River, Florida St. Johns River, Florida Mobile Bay, Alabama City Point, Virginia City Point, Virginia James River, Virginia

    Date
    Dec 7, 1864 Dec 9, 1864 Jan 15, 1865 Mar 1, 1865 Mar 4, 1865 Mar 12, 1865 Mar 28, 1865 Mar 29, 1865 Apr 1, 1865 Apr 14, 1865 Apr 14, 1865 May 12, 1865

    Vessel
    NARCISSUS Tug OTSEGO Gunboat PATAPSCO Gunboat HARVEST MOON Gunboat THORNE Army Transport ALTHEA Gunboat MILWAUKEE Monitor OSAGE Monitor RODOLPH Gunboat SCIOTA Gunboat CINCINNATIS LAUNCH R.B. HAMILTON Army Transport

    Location
    Mobile Bay, Alabama Roanoke River, North Carolina Charleston, South Carolina Georgetown, South Carolina Cape Fear River, North Carolina Blakely River, Alabama Blakely River, Alabama Blakely River, Alabama Blakely River. Alabama Mobile Bay, Alabama Blakely River, Alabama Mobile Bay, Alabama

    EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA

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