The Union naval blockade of Southern ports during the Civil War:

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Gradually tightened over the course of the war, strangling the Southern economy and limiting the Confederacy's ability to trade. The Union naval blockade gradually tightened throughout the war, becoming increasingly effective at strangling the Southern economy. When Lincoln first declared the blockade in April 1861, the U.S. Navy had only a few dozen ships to cover over 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline. Over time, the Navy expanded enormously, captured key ports like New Orleans and Wilmington, and reduced blockade running to a trickle. By war's end, the blockade had severely limited the Confederacy's ability to export cotton and import weapons, medicine, and manufactured goods.

The blockade was not immediately effective - in its first years, blockade runners successfully evaded Union ships on a majority of their attempts, and the vast Southern coastline with its many inlets and harbors made comprehensive coverage impossible initially. The blockade fleet consisted primarily of wooden sailing ships and steam-powered vessels, not ironclads; ironclads like the Monitor were specialized combat vessels, while the blockade required large numbers of conventional warships stationed on patrol. European nations, particularly Britain, recognized the blockade as legitimate under international law rather than declaring it illegal, though British merchants profited from blockade running through neutral ports.

The naval blockade is an important DSST exam topic because it exemplifies the Union's strategic advantage in economic warfare. The blockade was central to the Anaconda Plan and represented a war of attrition against the Southern economy. Its gradual effectiveness demonstrates that the Civil War was won not just on the battlefield but through the systematic destruction of the Confederacy's ability to sustain itself economically.

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