Hearts of Steam, Or, A Blog of Dystopian Wars and General Steampunk Historium: First ever aircraft carriers?! A real American inovation.

The American Civil War was known for a lot of "firsts". First ever truly industrialized war (the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia is considered a prequel to World War I with it's trench warfare and huge amount of siege artillery.), the first mobile war (railroads were all important as many battles centered around crucial railheads), the first time a submarine was used successfully, the first time ironclads were massed produced (the USS Monitor class.), AND the first time aerial reconnaissance was used by a navy. And that's just a few of the many technical and strategic innovations this war is known for. The most interesting of course (especially in relation to steampunk games like Dystopian Wars) is the last named innovation. Both the Confederate and Union navies developed balloon launch craft for use along the major rivers of the war. They worked pretty well too for recon and spying.

Of course, the balloons weren't armed, and they remained tethered to the boats they were launched from, but it was a step in the right direction. The most interesting part about the balloon carrier the Union Navy used (USS George Washington Parke Custis) was that Confederate gunners wouldn't fire on it since the coal barge looked like the Monitor, and they were afraid it would fire back! The CSS Teaser, the Confederate carrier, served as a vital recon unit for rebel troops along the James River, until she was captured by the USS Maratanza, and the USS Monitor jointly. At the time of her capture, Union troops also captured vital intelligence, including Confederate torpedo placements in the river, and plans for the ironclad CSS Richmond.

The success of the USS George Washington Parke Custis' recon along the Potomac River helped to convince Union commanders of the usefulness of an army balloon corps, and shortly thereafter balloon recon units became widespread among Union (and later Confederate) forces throughout the war. One wonders why a naval balloon corps (or flotilla) wasn't formed for use in Union fleet operations...