The U.S. entered the Civil War with a large amount of naval potential.

wausaubob

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Ship building and boat building had slowed down.
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p. 107. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/preliminary-report/1860e-06.pdf
The British were reasserting their position on the world's oceans. The California Gold Rush was slowing. The railroads were taking more of the internal traffic. And the relative advantage of the US in building wooden ships with powerful sails had declined. The advantage was shifting back to England and Germany.
But the infrastructure to build and outfit the ships still existed. The manpower to rev up the industry and man the ships with sailors and captains, still existed.
This was by far the main industrial advantage of the US over the Confederacy. In the initial stages of the Civil War it led to numerous strategic victories for the US.
In the middle period of the war, it was the US' agricultural advantages that allowed it to endure Confederate victories. With respect to agriculture, the horses, the oats and the hay, were all in the northern states, as shown in the recapitulation.
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/agriculture/1860b-09.pdf
The US economy had already evolved to the point of supplying large numbers of horses in and around cities, and keeping livestock alive during a longer winter. Shifting that capability to supplying the fodder necessary to sustain the horses and mules of a large army, was significantly easier for the US than it was for the Confederacy.
 
Ship building and boat building had slowed down.
View attachment 397377
p. 107. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/preliminary-report/1860e-06.pdf
The British were reasserting their position on the world's oceans. The California Gold Rush was slowing. The railroads were taking more of the internal traffic. And the relative advantage of the US in building wooden ships with powerful sails had declined. The advantage was shifting back to England and Germany.
But the infrastructure to build and outfit the ships still existed. The manpower to rev up the industry and man the ships with sailors and captains, still existed.
This was by far the main industrial advantage of the US over the Confederacy. In the initial stages of the Civil War it led to numerous strategic victories for the US.
In the middle period of the war, it was the US' agricultural advantages that allowed it to endure Confederate victories. With respect to agriculture, the horses, the oats and the hay, were all in the northern states, as shown in the recapitulation.
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/agriculture/1860b-09.pdf
The US economy had already evolved to the point of supplying large numbers of horses in and around cities, and keeping livestock alive during a longer winter. Shifting that capability to supplying the fodder necessary to sustain the horses and mules of a large army, was significantly easier for the US than it was for the Confederacy.
You make good points. But above all Federal resources had a more mature distribution system and a lock on high grade anthracite coal, very important for military steamers.
 
I think that particular table may be somewhat deceptive, reflecting the economic downturn of the Panic of 1857. This table from the same document shows the steady growth over the long term:


1618340641286.png


We might also consider naval construction specifically, which had been rather moribund for most of the prewar period. Those same years 1854-60 showed a burst of construction, eighteen large, powerful ships among the best of their types, Merrimack class frigates, Hartford type large sloops, and the new style sloops featuring heavy pivot guns on the centerline.
 
You make good points. But above all Federal resources had a more mature distribution system and a lock on high grade anthracite coal, very important for military steamers.
Coal, because of its energy density, was very important for steamships which had to travel long distances.
 
I think that particular table may be somewhat deceptive, reflecting the economic downturn of the Panic of 1857. This table from the same document shows the steady growth over the long term:


View attachment 397558

We might also consider naval construction specifically, which had been rather moribund for most of the prewar period. Those same years 1854-60 showed a burst of construction, eighteen large, powerful ships among the best of their types, Merrimack class frigates, Hartford type large sloops, and the new style sloops featuring heavy pivot guns on the centerline.
Many of the steamships that were planned, were never completed. The navy was quick to shift to ironclads with turrets. However, the essential capacity was to repair, outfit and recondition ships quickly. The logistical fleet was about as important as the combat fleet.
 
I think that particular table may be somewhat deceptive, reflecting the economic downturn of the Panic of 1857. This table from the same document shows the steady growth over the long term:


View attachment 397558

We might also consider naval construction specifically, which had been rather moribund for most of the prewar period. Those same years 1854-60 showed a burst of construction, eighteen large, powerful ships among the best of their types, Merrimack class frigates, Hartford type large sloops, and the new style sloops featuring heavy pivot guns on the centerline.
The slow down in both railroads and ship building made the US economy look smaller than it was in reality. Statistically in 1860, it looked less impressive. There was a large capacity for expansion, especially if workers and sailors from western Europe started immigrating in 1863 and thereafter.
 
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