business indeed. The Secretary of the Confederate navy, Stephen
R. Mallory, was not to blame. He was one of the very few
civilians who understood and tried to follow any naval principles
at all. He had done good work as chairman of the Naval Committee
in the Senate before the war, and had learnt a good deal more
than his Northern rival, Gideon Welles. He often saw what should
have been done. But men and means were lacking.

Men and means were also lacking in the naval North at the time
the war began. But the small regular navy was invincible against
next to none; and it enjoyed many means of expansion denied to
the South.

On the outbreak of hostilities the United States Navy had ninety
ships and about nine thousand men--all ranks and ratings (with
marines) included. The age of steam had come. But fifty vessels
had no steam at all. Of the rest one was on the Lakes, five were
quite unserviceable, and thirty-four were scattered about the
world without the slightest thought of how to mobilize a fleet at
home. The age of ironclads had begun already overseas. But in his
report to Congress on July 4, 1861, Gideon Welles, Secretary of
the Navy, only made some wholly non-committal observations in
ponderous "officialese." In August he appointed a committee which
began its report in September with the sage remark that "Opinions
differ amongst naval and scientific men as to the policy of
adopting the iron armament for ships-of-war." In December Welles
transmitted this report to Congress with the still sager remark
that "The subject of iron armature for ships is one of great
general interest, not only to the navy and country, but is
engaging the attention of the civilized world." Such was the