Inner Sea Fleet

The Inner Sea Fleet is a formation of the Confederate States Navy, created in 1889 after the Confederate-Mexican War. Its chief task is to patrol the 'Inner Sea' of the Confederacy - namely the Gulf of Mexico and the western and northern Caribbean Sea.

Introduction
The origins of the force lay in the Gulf Fleet, which had played an important role in several battles along the eastern coast of Mexico during the Confederate conquest. The name was chosen in Congress, as a deliberate reference to the conquest having made the Gulf an 'Inner Sea', and the first stage of the Golden Circle idea.

Unfortunately, the first action of the Inner Sea Fleet following its creation turned out to be a humiliation - namely, the Belize Incident in 1891.

While two squadrons of armoured cruisers and battleships immediately sailed for Belize from Houston, they were both outpaced and completely outmatched by the Royal Navy, and the ships of the West Indies Station, and were unable to prevent the reinforcement of Belize. To add insult to injury, the armoured cruiser Austin was rammed during manoeuvres by the battleship Arkansas, and sank with heavy loss of life. In the end, the Confederacy caved in to military and diplomatic pressure and withdrew its claim on the territory of Belize.

The Confederacy, smarting from this humiliation, quickly embarked on a programme of naval construction, as expressed in four naval laws - those of 1892, 1896, 1899 and 1905. However, owing to political struggles within the Navy, the Inner Sea Fleet was not a focus of this naval construction programme, which was aimed at challenging the Royal Navy for dominance in the North Atlantic.

Order of Battle, Patrol Command (1910)
In 1910, the Inner Sea Fleet comprised two main commands, reflecting its double role: the Battlefleet Command, aimed at facing off against the Royal Navy in the Western Caribbean, and the Patrol Command, aimed at combating rebel, piracy and criminal threats within the Inner Sea.

Patrol Command

 * 1st Patrol Squadron, headquartered at Naval Station Trinity Bay
 * 2nd Patrol Squadron, headquartered at Naval Station Biscayne
 * 3rd Patrol Squadron, headquartered at Naval Station Semmes

Battlefleet Command

 * 1st Battleship Squadron, headquartered at Naval Station Hunley