Success Is All That Was Expected: The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the Civil War

by Robert M. Browning Jr.

In Success Is All That Was Expected, historian Robert Browning, the world's leading scholar of Union naval blockades during the American Civil War, gives a blow-by-blow account of the naval operations that helped to strangle the Confederacy.

Created in 1863 and charged with halting Confederate maritime commerce and closing ports on the Southern Atlantic coast from South Carolina to Florida, the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron was one of four Union coastal blockading squadrons. The squadron's numerous actions including harrowing engagements between ships and forts, daring amphibious assaults, battles between ironclad vessels, the harassment of Confederate blockade runners, and combating the incredible evolution of underwater warfare in the form of the CSS Hunley. But the blockade's success was constantly hampered by indecisive leaders in Washington who failed to express their strategic vision as well as by reputation-conscious naval commanders who were reluctant to press the fight when the specter of failure loomed. Despite lost opportunities, unfulfilled expectations, and failures along the way, the bravery, sacrifice, and vigilance of these fighting men played an important role in the Union's ultimate victory.

Success Is All That Was Expected joins Robert Browning's previous award-winning volume on the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron to create the benchmark for Civil War naval history. Together they tell the definitive story of Union naval operations off the Atlantic coast.

Genres: American Civil War

432 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 2002

About the author

Robert M. Browning Jr. is Chief Historian of the United States Coast Guard.

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely detailed and well written book that covers the entirety of naval operations in the dept of the south. It is a bit dry at times, but is the most detailed book on naval operations I’ve ever read. I would definitely recommend this book to a patient reader who is interested in the civil war or naval affairs.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed description and thorough analysis of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the mission to blockade the southern coast and, where possible, seize southern ports.
The latter was mostly accomplished by 1862 with the exception of Savannah and Charleston. Attempts by the navy to attack and secure Charleston accomplished little to nothing. Although the port itself was thoroughly closed to traffic for the first part of 1863.
Confederate innovations - ironclads, torpedoes (mines), torpedo boats, and submarines - help deter US progress. But the advances against the larger harbor by US ironclads mainly pointed up the limitations of those craft.
Lack of cooperation between US land forces and navy contributed to the ineffectiveness of attacks against the harbor. The absence of a larger overall military strategy by the Union command also weakened assaults. Having no sustained strategy meant actions were more reactionary than they should have been.
In the end the primary responsibility of blockading was met. Only when, late in the war, US ground forces threatened the city from the landslide did the navy have more success in attacking from the water - in part because Confederate forces abandoned the area due to the pressure of land forces.
The author covers a range of topics in this well written monograph. Couple with his book on the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, this book is indispensable in understanding the blockade.