which warship was to be used s retalition aginst union forces

The South needed to export cotton to Europe and import arms and food for its army in return. At the time, the South supplied cotton to both England and France for use in their textile mills. What they did have was cotton, which was highly profitable because they used slave labor. They did not have the capacity to make the weapons and ammunition they needed to wage a war. In 1861, the Confederate states had little manufacturing compared to the North. It was the most ambitious blockade ever attempted in world history. The blockade was part of General Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan to put economic pressure on the Confederacy until it returned to the Union. As few as 25% of blockade runners were successful later in the war. But as the Union built more ships, the blockade became more effective. The Union Navy had to patrol nearly 3,500 miles of seashore along the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines. As many as two out of every three ships entering or leaving Southern ports were successful. During the first two years of the Civil War, the blockade had very limited success.

In response, the Confederacy used small fast ships known as blockade runners. On April 19, 1861, one week after Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the blockade.

The blockade runners of the American Civil War were specially outfitted Confederate ships designed to slip through the blockade of Southern by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

Which warship was to be used s retalition aginst union forces