In the end the Confederacy did more to advance naval technology than her rival. It helped that the Confederacy retained notable scientist like Matthew Fontaine Maury and the need to counter the large differences in the size of the Confederate fleet as opposed to the Union fleet. This led to the development of commerce raiders, ironclads, submarines, torpedo boats, and electrically controlled naval mines, etc. The little Confederate Navy put up a good fight.

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David Upton