Besides the Rodman process an acceptable tube might have been produced by forging. This ability was available in the South.

Five 10" Seacoast Mortars went, according to a Federal's report, unused in the second barbette of Ft. St. Philip. These tubes were ordnance taken from Pesacola, Florida apon evacuation. They might have been better used manned and on the water, during the initial rush by the survey team. The shells for those mortars were used as land mines by the Confederacy.

Where is reference to the hit on the monitor at Ft. McAllister? I've got a map of the drainage basin in the area between Hardwick and Savannah in front of me as I write. ofre0013/00246.TIF6.gif

Regarding your statement that a monitor would steam up and sink a gunboat. I was thinking of a numerical advantage for the defending side. That monitor could only track one target, turret or no. Five boats with mortars would have been match for two monitors is my contention. Your mention of the material deficient South makes countering Federal incursions in the port areas early in the war, with materials on-hand imperative.

The accuracy of fire had a lot to do with crew experience. The notes regarding Federal firing practice off Key West are among the items missing from the National Archives. Besides the scant log mention in the ORN, is there another place where details of the training would be?