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[[Image:Anaconda Plan.jpg|thumb|right|310px|1861 Cartoon map of the blockade]]

[[Image:Anaconda Plan.jpg|thumb|right|310px|1861 Cartoon map of the blockade]]

The '''Union Blockade''' was a United States Navy [[blockade]] that closed the Confederate ports 1861-1865, during the [[American Civil War]]. The U.S. Navy maintained a massive effort on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the [[Confederate States of America]] designed to prevent the local and international movement of cotton, supplies, soldiers and arms into or out of the Confederacy.  The vast majority of vessels from other nations obeyed the blockade. However, specialty ships were built to slip through, called blockade runners. They were mostly new high-speed ships with small cargo capacity. They were built and financed by British interests and operated by the British (using Royal Navy officers on leave) and ran between Confederate-controlled ports and the neutral ports of Havana, Cuba (Spanish); Nassau, Bahamas (British) and Bermuda (British), where British suppliers had set up supply bases.  

The '''Union Blockade''' was a United States Navy [[blockade]] that closed the Confederate ports 1861-1865, during the [[American Civil War]]. The U.S. Navy maintained a massive effort on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the [[Confederate States of America]] designed to prevent the local and international movement of cotton, supplies, soldiers and arms into or out of the Confederacy.  The vast majority of vessels from other nations obeyed the blockade. However, specialty ships were built to slip through, called blockade runners. They were mostly new high-speed ships with small cargo capacity. They were built and financed by British interests and operated by the British (using Royal Navy officers on leave) and ran between Confederate-controlled ports and the neutral ports of Havana, Cuba (Spanish); Nassau, Bahamas (British) and Bermuda (British), where British suppliers had set up supply bases.