Chapter eighteen
Hatteras Inlet, North CarolinaCarlisle stood on the bridge of his new Union warship, the converted USS Annapolis, as the crew in navy blues were preparing for their first firing exercise. According to the chief engineer, the English engines were stronger and more reliable than her American counterparts, capable of fifteen or sixteen knots given the right conditions, even with the massive weight of deck guns. Carlisle had smiled at that. The best way to catch a blockade runner was with another blockade runner.
Carlisle surveyed the sea, then gave his attention to the ship as he took a turn about the deck. The three tall smokestacks and two masts seemed to reach for the sky. The sixteen-thousand pound Big Bear was the only gun transplanted from the Connecticut and would ag
