12 Immigrants Who Made the American Military Great

12 Immigrants Who Made the American Military Great — page 3
2 John Ericsson’s Inventions Help the North Win the Civil War under the waterline they would be safer from enemy fire But most ships had paddlewheels This idea wouldn’t work with paddlewheels So Ericsson came up with a new design for a screw propeller In 1839 Ericsson immigrated to the United States He thought the fast growing country would be interested in his propeller By 1844 Ericsson’s propeller was in use by 25 ships on the Great Lakes In 1848 Ericsson became a US citizen When the Civil War began in 1861 every ship in the Union navy was made of wood Confederate ships could fire exploding shells The North looked to Ericsson for help He designed an ironclad ship It was built very quickly The USS Monitor had armored plates on the hull It had no masts or sails Everything was below the waterline except one John Ericsson was a Swedish American inventor and engineer His ideas helped the Union Navy during the US Civil War Ericsson was born on July 31 1803 in Värmland Sweden He was good at drawing and solving problems During his twenties Ericsson had ideas for improving warships For example if the engines could be moved below decks 6