Mobile Bay was a passage through a deeply prepared defensive system as well as a fleet action. Restricted water, depth, and limited room to bring guns to bear made ships behave less like freely manoeuvring ocean forces. The comparison with a railway explains how an otherwise mobile force can become predictable once geography confines its route. Fort construction also required temporary infrastructure to move guns and materials, while ships could be built and armed around established industrial centers.
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Why Mobile Bay forced a fleet into a narrow fight
Mobile Bay shows how estuaries and channels restrict a fleet's manoeuvre even when naval power is strategically mobile.