Richmond Ironclads at Trent's Reach
ORN Series I Vol. 10:465
The Obstructions
Grant’s forces were supplied by ships coming up the James—whose safety depended on Butler’s obstructions, depicted in this once-secret chart from September 16, 1864. Facing Richmond (here upriver is to the right) are two command-detonated torpedoes (mines) that were hidden in the channel with their firing wires running to a hut on shore. A net stretched across the river in front of the "Torpedo Hut" to catch floating mines released by the Confederates. On the left, scuttled ships in the channel are marked 1-14; their masts were cut down and chained into a boom that spanned the river as well. The chart also maps the river's depth, information the C.S. Navy would have desperately desired.
The Obstructions
Grant’s forces were supplied by ships coming up the James—whose safety depended on Butler’s obstructions, depicted in this once-secret chart from September 16, 1864. Facing Richmond (here upriver is to the right) are two command-detonated torpedoes (mines) that were hidden in the channel with their firing wires running to a hut on shore. A net stretched across the river in front of the "Torpedo Hut" to catch floating mines released by the Confederates. On the left, scuttled ships in the channel are marked 1-14; their masts were cut down and chained into a boom that spanned the river as well. The chart also maps the river's depth, information the C.S. Navy would have desperately desired.