GREAT WAR 1898: CRISIS TO QUAGMIRE (PART 20)

by bmovievillain, Jan 25, 2014, 1:00:08 AM
Literature / Prose / Fiction / General Fiction / Introductions & Chapters

Dirty Water Dirty Laundry

There is one aspect of the war that receives very little attention. This war is one of the most documented events in the history of human affairs and, despite this, the “brown water” navies of the world are almost completely forgotten. Whether on the Danube, the Yangtze, the Nile, or the Mississippi it would seem that these unique warriors are almost completely overlooked.

This is quite possibly the result of a lot of hype before the war. Riverine units, a name given to combat vessels that specialize in shallow water combat, were as much touted before the war as was the cavalry. This special breed of sailor was looked on as the adventurous, happy go lucky, brawling type. That image was widely touted in the popular culture of the late 19th century. How much of this image was really true is debatable. What is not, is the fact that when the war began in earnest, none of these forces delivered much, although, through no fault of the sailors. Technology had simply caught them off guard.

The primary weapon that changed shallow water combat was the submersible mine. Before the war ended it would change naval combat everywhere but, at the start, it was primarily being deployed in rivers and large lakes. The harbors of the world were mined but, no where near to the extent that they would be by the end of the conflict. Even then, they were still used primarily for defense of the harbor whereas, on the rivers of the world, these lurking, stealthy, ship killing bombs became an offensive instrument for which there was no counter.

In November of 1898, the most heavily mined waters in the world were the rivers of North America. The Mississippi river had extensive fields that lay both north and south of the border. The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers had similar defenses. When combined with snag cables, nets, and natural barriers it effectively stopped river traffic, completely, once the shooting began. The mighty, and expensive, gunboats that had been praised so much sat helplessly behind their barriers completely at the mercy of the land armies.

One would think that the Great Lakes, effectively inland oceans, would have been different but, early on in the war it became painfully clear that they were not. Both Britain and the United States had spent a great deal of money on building a class of vessel they informally called the “Great Lake Battleship.” These vessels were essentially floating barges that were packed down with every large caliber weapon that would fit. They were heavily armored but, boiled down to little more than floating fortresses. They were hideously underpowered (there were no engines in the world at the time that could effectively move such hulking behemoths), hard to steer, and normally required escort vessels to tow them anywhere they went.

The USS North Star was being towed to her wartime station, just off Mackinac Island, when she struck disaster on the 8th of November, 1898. Specifically, she struck a mine that had been placed in her path some two days earlier. A small belt of them had been laid at night by the Royal Navy and, the cables were short enough to hold the explosives below the draft of the towing vessels. The mine detonated bellow the belts of armor on the North Star and it ripped a good sized hole in her hull. These vessels were very top heavy and once water began rushing in it was not long before she capsized. Very few men had a chance to abandon ship and nearly 2000 sailors drowned as a result.

The fact that she hit a mine was a one in a hundred shot. The news of the sinking made head line news in both Canada and the US but, despite the obvious British victory it was a damning defeat for most brown water sailors. The Admirals on both sides began to re-evaluate their opinions of shallow draft operations. They soon reached the conclusion that such weapons were hideously expensive while being unacceptably vulnerable. This attitude would last out the rest of the war.

It is easy to understand why the national navies would think so highly of these vessels before the conflict. The river gunboats had been very useful in the colonial conflicts that led up to the war. What was generally overlooked was that in these conflicts the enemy almost never had an effective way of dealing with gunboats. Rival western powers did have such means. This lesson would go way beyond riverine forces. As the war unfolded, all the powers involved would find out that the lessons they had learned in these brushfire wars had little application in the fighting to come.

GREAT WAR 1898: CRISIS TO QUAGMIRE (PART 20) by bmovievillain

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Many alternate histories have dealt with the subject of an alternative ending to the American Civil War. This story differs in that it does not exclusively concern itself with events in North America. It draws back and looks at the world picture. Set in the victorian age, at the end of the nineteenth cenuty, a series of incidents converge and spark the first world war, in 1898. Explore the differences in a world with a CSA, and how it changes the dynamics between the great powers of that age and by extension, ultimately, the twentieth century. Enjoy the first book in this series.

Jessica42 Featured By Owner Jan 26, 2014 Writer

Mind you River boats could still play a role as mobile artillery platforms. Cooperating and coordinating their movement with the army. This is how Grant often use the Riverboats in operations along the Mississippi during the real Civil War.

bmovievillain Featured By Owner Jan 27, 2014 Professional Digital Artist

That's what is meant by they found themselves at the mercy of the land armies. I might also note that Grant's gunboats did not have to face the kinds of obstacles that existed three decades later and, most of the time they found themselves taking orders from the Army, anyway, even if they were naval units. The gunboats during WW1 turned out to be, pretty much useless and, there were some attempts to use them early on in the war, even in Europe. These actions are not well known because they pretty much got miserable results and the missions were swept under the rug.

Jessica42 Featured By Owner Jan 27, 2014 Writer

Interesting could you direct me to any good sources regarding European river navies pre-WW1?

bmovievillain Featured By Owner Jan 27, 2014 Professional Digital Artist

I don't think I've ever seen an entire book on the subject. I first saw mentions of various actions and then later I discovered that these mentions were actually bits and pieces of what were several (what was at the time) major operations mounted by the Austro Hungarian Navy. They used their gunboats in an attempt to bombard Belgrade in retaliation for the assassination of the Archduke. They were largely a failure. Then when they tried to use the same boats to support the invasion of Serbia, the Serbs pretty much neutralized them with barriers, right from the start. I don't remember where I read all that stuff although I am pretty sure some of it is in the books on my shelves here. My suggestion in finding stuff, look for articles on the Serbian campaign. That was where most of it happened because the Danube was the only major river system in an active war zone.

Jessica42 Featured By Owner Jan 27, 2014 Writer

Well that's an area of WWI I don't know well so its as good an excuse as any to find out more.

bmovievillain Featured By Owner Jan 27, 2014 Professional Digital Artist

A lot of people don't and with good reason. LOL. The Austrian Navy really didn't want to advertise exactly how much of a flop those operations were, particularly when they talked up their river boats so much before the war. Of course, after the conflict the Austrian Navy also ceased to exist and, so, there isn't a great deal out there on that organization anyway.