A first blush one might think that a Confederate ironclad participating in a Japanese civil war is a product of the imagination of a writer of alternative history fiction. But as they say, truth indeed can be stranger than ficition as this did occur.
The ship that eventually would be known as the “Kotetsu” was originally ordered by the Confederate Navy from France in 1863. As French law forbade the selling of warships to the Confederacy, while under construction it was given the name “Sphinx” in an attempt to make Union officials think she was bound for Egypt. But the plot to make this blockade runniner for the South was discovered. So instead, France sold it to Denmark who was involved in a war with Prussia by the time the ship was almost completed. The ship was then named the Staerkodder in 1864.
However, when the ship was delivered, the war between Denmark and Prussia had ended. Having no use for the ship, via a Swedish broker the ship was sold to the Confedrate Navy. After playing a game of cat and mouse with the Union Navy and narrowly avoiding a battle off the coast of Portugal, the ship then known as the “Stonewall” arrived in Cuba in may of 1865. Upon arriving in Cuba, the captain of the Confederate ship learned that the American Civil War was over. So he sold it to Spain for $16,000 in order to obtain funds to pay his crew. Spain in turn sold it to the United States for the same amount. It sailed to the US and remained docked and unused at the Washington Navy Yard.
In an interesting turn of events, the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan sent officials to the United States in 1867 looking to buy surplus warships. The United States sold the ship to them and it set sail for japan. However, by the time the ship arrived in 1868 Japan was engaged in a civil war of its own. The United States thus delayed the delivery of the ship as it had no interest in choosing sides in the conflict. However, after the Republic of Ezo was established, the United States transferred control of the ship to Japan. The ship then became the “Kotetsu” and was the first ironclad in the Japanese Navy.
After all of these dealings and transfers the ship finally saw battle against rival Japanese factions in 1869 and performed admirably. She was decommissioned in 1888 and sold for scrap in 1889.
James D. Bulloch, the Savannah, Georgia native who originally ordered the ship for the Confederate Navy likely never dreamed of the journey his creation would take around the world. No doubt an interesting story he must have told to his nephew, a gentleman named Teddy Roosevelt who would become the 26th President of the United States.
