The point of this thread, use of ramming as a battle tactic by CS forces, was a gambit forced on attackers due to lack of ordnance capable of breeching the hulls opposing. The loss of production capability early on with the loss of Nashville and New Orleans led to these engagements occuring as they did. ---

Nashville was captured by Union ships of the US Ram Fleet...Col. Charles Rivers Ellet used his rams to ram the rams.....and sank almost the entire CS River Defense Fleet.

At New Orleans the very first ironclad warship to see combat..CSS Manasas, was an ironclad ram but had very little impact on the naval battle at the forts below New Orleans.

the Union navy went on to design and build several ships puropose built as rams such as the USS Vindicator.

Several other US navy ironclads were considered rams..such as the USS Lafayette and the USS Chotaw but were too slow to ever be used as rams.

William D. Porter used the Essex to try to ram the CSS Arkansas while it was docked at Vicksburg after running through the Union fleet.

so as the war progressed, rams were actually developed as their own class of warships..by both sides.

so i guess what i'm getting at is ramming was not so much a desperation measure used by the Confederates but a legitimate naval tactic going all the way back to Greek Triremes.