The Confederate States Navy was the branch of the Confederate States armed forces, responsible for naval operations during the American Civil War. Among the major tasks of the Navy was breaking the Union blockade of the Confederacy and protecting southern harbors and coastlines from attack. The Confederate Navy's tasks led it to make innovations in naval warfare in order to make up the disparity in forces with the Union Navy.
One of the more well-known ships was CSS Virginia (a.k.a. "Merrimac"), a ship based on the hull of USS Merrimack, but re-built as an ironclad. In 1862 she fought USS Monitor in the Battle of Hampton Roads, a event that came to symbolize the end of the dominance of large wooden sailing warships.
Another notable one is the submarine Hunley. She had a number of problems but was the first submarine to sink a ship in a wartime engagment, though she sank herself in the process as well. She was among the few submarines of the war, and of the few submarines to have existed since the Turtle of the American Revolutionary War.
There was a Revolutionary War-era frigate known as USS Confederacy, unrelated to the CSN. There was however a CSS United States, the name of the USS United States in 1861–1862, when she was used by the CSN.
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