Guns were reduced in number but increased in size and range the reduction was partially compensated by mounting the guns in rotating turrets or pivoting the gun on a curved deck track so they could be turned to fire in any direction.

Wooden hulls were first protected by armor plating and soon replaced by iron or steel throughout.

Vessels of widely differing character were built from the keel up in response to peculiar problems they would encounter. During the war, sailing vessels were completely supplanted by ships propelled by steam for combat purposes. To accomplish its wartime missions, the Union Navy had to undergo a profound technical and institutional transformation. The most radical change was the creation of the Bureau of Steam Engineering. Some of the older bureaus were rearranged or had their names altered. The system of naval bureaus was revised in the summer of 1862. Support the Army by providing gunfire support, rapid transport, and communications on the interior rivers. Carry the war to places in the seceded states inaccessible to the Union Army but could be reached by water. Meet in combat the war vessels of the CSN. Maintain the blockade of Confederate ports by restraining all blockade runners declared by President Lincoln on April 19, 1861, and continued until the end of the Rebellion. The primary missions of the Union Navy were:ġ. The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were under the control of the United States Army, also called the Union Army. The Union Navy was the United States Navy (USN) during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy (CSN).

Civil war navy uniforms