The Union's secret weapons: Battleships of the Civil War

The year is 1862, and the Union is losing the civil war. Union attempts to capture Richmond have failed, and attempts by the Confederates to push the Union out of the south have failed. Nevertheless, Britain and France are moving closer to recognizing the Civil War, and feel the war has gone on long enough. Nevertheless, a new secret weapon is discovered by the US.

In 1942, a survived Bismarck, alongside the Scharnhorst, Admiral Scheer, Prinz Eugen, a few destroyers, and a light cruiser carrying Panther, Tiger, and Panzer IV tanks, aswell as Assault Rifles, Machine guns, and bombs, are caught in an explosion and are sent to 1862.

The crews of the ships do not survive, but the vehicles and weapons do. A Union division under General Grant come across the vehicles by chance. They investigate, and through trial and error, begin to utilize them. Grant realizes that if the Union utilized the 10 tanks, 2 Tigers, 4 Panthers and 4 Panzer IVs, they could break the Confederate lines. They decide not to reveal them until a battle, when the Union cause seems lost.

This comes when the Confederates attack Antietam. Unlike in our timeline, three Union soldiers don't discover Lee's plan 191. This leaves the Union caught by surprise, and getting destroyed. Grant's arrival changes that. Union forces fronted by tanks, aswell as machine and sub-machine guns, smash through the Confederate lines and cut them in two.

The tanks destroy everything in their path, and half the Army of Northern Virginia is captured. The remainder, just 10,000, escape. At the same time, Bismarck and Scharnhorst shell Charleston harbor, and Grant reveals to the president the Union's secret weapons.

Lincoln adopts the new weapons, and Union engineers begin reverse engineering the weapons. Alongside the decisive victory at Antietam, the new weapons cause Britain and France to completely stop support of the Confederacy, they don't want to face the Union army's tanks or the mighty battleships.

Union forces overrun Richmond and encircle the bulk of the Confederate armies when they cut a swathe through Virginia and Tennessee. Confederate forces surrender in droves, and a Union assault on the deep south fronted by 30 tanks, 20 of which are brand new. The Union seizes New Orleans and Charleston, and the Heavy cruiser pair Admiral Scheer and Prinz Eugen hunt down Confederate surface raiders.

By December 1862, after less then two years of war, the Union celebrates a victory, and look in awe at the weapons that won them the war.

Congress votes overwhelmingly to operate these new weapons permanently. The Union also utilizes electricity and television and in a speech, Lincoln states that the victory was due to General Grant and God's resolve to stop slavery.

The Union scraps most of its ships, so as to gain money for building up its battleships, battlecruisers, Heavy Cruisers, and Destroyers. The Union researches and draws up proposals for more battleships. The Union government lowers its army to 50,000, though it does have 2,000 tanks by 1870.

Despite the fact that many countries will soon adopt the new technology, especially Britain, who is determined to stay on top of the world navally, aswell as a strengthening Germany, the Union declares it will be ready for any future war. To prove it, 4 new battleships are ordered, the New York, Pensylvannia, Illinois, and California. There are also 4 more Battlecruisers of the Scharnhorst-class, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Nevada. Sub-machine guns and machine guns replace rifles and muskets as the main army armanent. 500 Tigers, 1,000 Panzer IV's, and 500 Panthers.