After Monitor architect John Ericsson confirmed that the Galena’s design would be sufficient for the Navy’s needs, the Ironclad Board awarded the third contract to Bushnell. Bushnell, who had lobbied heavily for Secretary Welles in favor of funding for the ironclads, submitted the design for the Galena by naval architect Samuel H. The USS New Ironsides was to be built in Philadelphia and the USS Monitor in New York. The Ironclad Board, appointed by Navy Secretary Welles to review incoming ironclad designs, reviewed a total of 17 designs and selected three for construction. On August 4, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law $1.5 million in federal funding for the building of ironclad ships. In the summer of 1861, Navy Secretary Gideon Welles and businessman Cornelius Scranton Bushnell of New Haven urged Congress to allocate funds for an ironclad construction program to combat the new ironclad vessels of the Confederate Navy. $1.5 million Authorized for Ironclad Warships For Connecticut, the construction of the gunboat Galena broadened the state’s industrial assistance to the Union cause and furthered its overall contributions to the war. It also heralded a shift in naval warfare that resulted from the ingenuity of ironclad designers and the need of the Union for a powerful naval force that could defeat the Confederacy. The debut of the USS Galena in the midst of the Civil War (1861-1865) marked the emergence of a new type of naval architecture. On February 14, 1862, the first seagoing ironclad warship of the United States Navy was launched in Mystic, Connecticut.
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