American Civil War (1861-65)

The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Civil War was rooted in the civil societies of Northern and Southern states, based in uneven national modernization. Deracinated populations sought political and cultural solutions.

From 1850 to 1861 the “difference of interests” between the slave-holding South and the free-labor North escalated into tragic consequences: the American Civil War, also called the War Between the States.

The Civil War (1861-65) was a social and military conflict between the United States of America in the North and the Confederate States of American in the South. During this time of war many innovations in warfare occurred, including the development and use of iron-clad ships, ultimately changing naval strategy around the world.

Both sides had advantages and weaknesses. The North had a greater population, more factories, supplies and more money than the South. The South had more experienced military leadership, better trained armies, and the advantage of fighting on familiar territory.

On February 4, 1861, Six other southern states seceded. Along with South Carolina they formed a new republic named the Confederate States of America, with the provisional capital in Montgomery, Alabama.

The North and South quickly raised volunteer and conscription armies that fought mostly in the South over four years.

On April 12, 1861—The Confederate States of America started the Civil War  by ordering an attack on Fort Sumter, a United States fort in South Carolina. Lincoln called it insurrection rather than war.

The fighting intensified as 4 more states joined the South. Although many Confederate and Unionist leaders believed the war would be short, it dragged on until 26 May 1865, when the last major Confederate army surrendered. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and 4 million slaves were freed.

Civil War casualties: 620,000 men died—340,000 northerners and 280,000 southerners. The entire population of the United States in 1865 was 35.2 million, which means more than 3 percent of the population was wounded or killed during the war.
American Civil War (1861-65)

Early history of US aircraft carrier

On November 14, 1910 Curtis Aircraft’s chief test pilot Eugene Ely made the first takeoff from a ship, launching a Curtiss Pusher from a modified wooden deck affixed to the scout cruiser USS Birmingham, which was anchored in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Two months later on January 18, 1911 Ely landing his Curtiss aircraft on a 127x32 ft wooden platform mounted to the deck of the armoured cruiser USS Pennsylvania, marking the frost use of a tailhook landing system.

Historians commonly agree that the first American aircraft carrier was the USS Langley (commissioned on March 20, 1922) a collier converted for the US Navy by having a platform built over the main deck to allow fixed-wing aircraft to land on and launch from the ship while at sea.

Technically, the USS Langley can be considered the first American fixed wing aircraft carrier. The first recorded form of an aircraft carrier came many years before the modifications of the Langley, and been many years before the aircraft carriers used during the Civil War.

USS Langley was the test tube for the Navy’s carrier aviation program and would be so until by the Saratonga and Lexington. USS Langley career spanned fifteen years until elected for a more mundane role.

As the technology matured and the US navy became more familiar and confident with carrier operation in the 1930s, the carrier took on an important role in the fleet. It had spent considerable time during the pre-war in mastering the basics of carrier operations. Going into the war US possessed a number of large carriers and almost all of these saw action against the Japanese. The Yorktown class was a truly excellent design which demontrated the US navy’s emphasis on ships that could carry a large air group, thus giving the ship maximum offensive fighting power.
Early history of US aircraft carrier