Clyde built blockade runners

[Davidkmendel]

Don't know if this has been brought up before. But in a documentary I saw today entitled "The Robert Lee"( the blockade runner) They claimed the war was extended by 2 years due to the Clyde built blockade runners. Any thoughts? The documentary was convincing and used documented evidence.

 

[Davidkmendel]

Just one point to whet the appetite. There was 27 shipyards on the Clyde with over 20000 employees devoted to building blockade runners. This doco has opened up a whole can of worms for me. Then again I might be naive.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I think it's fair to say that the Confederacy couldn't have held out as long as it did without a number of the goods and resources that were brought in by blockade running. I'm reluctant to assign a specific period of time to it, though.

The documentary you mention may be in connection with this book, but even if it isn't, I can recommend it as a good read on the topic:

Graham, Eric J. Clyde Built: Blockade Runners, Cruisers, and Armoured Rams of the American Civil War. Edinburgh, Scotland: Birlinn Press, 2006. 238 pp.​