Jack of Harts

The Commonwealth of Virginia maintained Norfolk as its primary naval base for the decades and centuries that followed. They leased much of the yards to the Federal Navy, but they held onto enough to support their own fleet. The other coastal States followed the same plan, maintaining their own defense fleets in their own yards while leasing parts of those yards to the Feds. Gulfport. Charleston. Kings Bay. Mayport. Every major naval defense port in the Confederation of Dixie also housed or built United States warships, and that brought in a great deal of money the Confederation States needed. It also constituted a simple majority of the reformed Federal government’s budget, and the long-term symbiosis of that relationship remained true for the centuries that followed. The Confederation publicly stood against the power of the Federal government, all while taking money to maintain the Federal fleet. Some called that hypocritical. Others simply considered it realistic.