Who was in charge of the Confederate Navy?

Answer 1

The Confederate Secretary of the Navy was Stephen Mallory, of Florida. He had been a US Senator for a long time before the war and was a long time member of the Naval Affairs Committee of the US Senate. Because nobody else in the Confederate government was too interested in the Navy, Mallory had a free hand. He was a great innovator, and much of the success and the bold innovations adopted by the Confederate Navy were attributable to him. Confederate law initially did not provide for any officer of higher rank than naval captain, through eventually four admirals were authorized by law. None of these served as overall naval commander, that function in most respects being exercised by Mallory. Officers of both the "old army" and the "old (US) navy" had been promised the same rank they held if they resigned at the start of the war. This left Mallory contending with a large number of senior officers too old to go to sea. Mallory fought for and obtained from the Confederate congress legislation providing for promotion based on merit. One of the officers who became a Confederate Rear Admiral was Raphael Semmes, who had earned a worldwide reputation commanding the CSS Alabama. Late in the war Semmes simultaneously held a commission as a brigadier general in the army, the only American to ever hold flag rank in both services. James D. Bulloch was the Confederate Navy's purchasing agent in Europe, where he oversaw the acquisition and outfitting of the several fast commerce raiders which caused such havoc (CSS Alabama, CSS Florida, CSS Shenandoah). Bulloch was the uncle of Theodore Roosevelt, and the great-uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt.