the union fleet was learning these tactics of running the fort. the commander of the union fleet at island number ten charles davis who had replaced andrew hall foot, was reluctant to allow them to go and henry walk, the commander, volunteered and said he we can do it and he did. general john pope, who was the army commander there investing island number ten said he needed a second gun boat. davis was again reluctant but agreed to allow "uss pittsburgh." these are both city class ironclads built by george eads at the end of 1861 and early 1862 that captured ft. henry and held with capture of ft. donaldson and those gun boats made it possible for pope's army to trap the entire garrison at island number ten and capture them. so these tactics of running enemy fortifications which -- attacking and running them -- which went back to 1861, they were bearing a lot of fruit here on the river in 1862. >> dr. mcpherson, thinking about some of the examples that you provide in your great study, of the individual decisions made by people like david farragut, te

the fort as a floating battery. the fleet was supported by an army of 15,000 union soldiers commanded by benjamin butler, probably not much of a military asset for the -- for the union effort. and indeed the public expected the navy to do the heavy work. just as the fleet under flag offic officer, samuel dupont had done at port royal, south carolina, five months earlier. iowa senator james grimes, a member of the senate committee on naval affairs, told assistant secretary of the navy, gustaves fox. take new orleans and hold it until the army comes up. and that's exactly how it happened. the mortar schooners commanded by commander david dixon porter were towed into position on april 18th to begin bombarding the forts. over the next six days and nights they lobbed thousand of 216-pound shells into the forts. doing a lot of damage, but knocking out only a few of the guns. faragut grew impatient and decided to run his ships past the forts in the predawn darkness of april 24th. this was not a popular decision among this captains. who had in the words of one of them, little or no sanguine feeling of success. for his part t

the torpedoes, full speed ahead. that happened as the fleet that he commanded was in the process of passing the forts that protected the entrance to mobile bay and one of the union ships, an ironclad, a brand new ironclad, hit a torpedo which is what they called naval mines then. went to the bottom immediately with the loss of its whole crew and the whole union fleet came to a halt under the guns of the fort and farragut taking the risk of going through the mine field said damned the torpedoes, full steam ahead. so the rest of the fleet went through the torpedo field. fortunately for them none of the other mines exploded. many of them had been rendered harmless by the powder soaking or broken loose from strong currents. he didn't know that. he was a risk taker. he was then asked -- after capturing mobile bay and shutting that down as one of the last of the blockade running ports for the confederacy, was asked to take command of the fleet that was going to attack ft. fisher in north carolina which guarded the entrance to wilmington, now the last blockade running port but his health had broken down over his service the last two and a half, three years. so he asked

the county has about 50 of the buses in the fleet and the union said the national highway traffic safetyistration is investigating. federal officials will be looking for manufacturing defects and decide if that fleet needs to be recalled. >>> >>> speaking of recall, ford is recalling cars because of a windshield wiper problem. the federal safety regulators say a seal may be missing and that can cause the wipers on the passenger side to fail. and the cars were built in august of 20 between and ford expects -- 2010 and ford expects to have free repairs in may. >>> and hospital heros. we're going to show you how an air force veteran helps put smiles on the faces of some of the sickest patients at children's national medical center. >>> and some cooler temperatures are in the forecast. gary's back with your five-day forecast. [ glass clinks ] i just wanted to say a few words. thank you for the lovely meal, jane. mom. and maybe this is just the cake talking but let's celebrate! [ male announcer ] buy any kfc 10 pc meal or larger and get a free double chocolate chip cake. . >>> the store of is

. >> o'brien: nuclear engineer dave lochbaum, who monitors the u.s. nuclear fleet for the union of concerned scientists, says the nrc hasn't always been so proactive. >> the biggest concern i've had with the nrc over the years i've been monitoring them is lack of consistency. they're a little bit slow at solving known safety problems. >> o'brien: like earthquakes. take the case of the north anna plant in virginia. these two reactors were among 27 around the country that were identified in the 1990s as seismically under-designed, but the nrc required no corrective action. then, last august... >> just outside the north anna nuclear power plant, which is just a few miles from the epicenter, we just got here, we have some information regarding... >> o'brien: ...a 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook the eastern seaboard, centered just 11 miles from north anna. while the quake was bigger than the plant's designers had planned for, north anna did just fine. the plant automatically shut down, and four backup diesel generators kicked in, keeping the plant cool until power was restored. a bullet dodged. bu

fires, six fires have broken out on smaller buses made by champion international, the county has 50 in its fleet, the unionusoperatorme cantics says the national highway traffic safety administration is investigating, federal officials will look for manufacturing defectdecide if the fleet needs to be recalled. >>> to virginia where students at a health training school held a rally to demand their money back because the school shut down. the students from act college say they were told they would have last tuesday off when they showed up for regular classes wednesday the school had closed, act college trains students in medical billing radiology, blood testing and other courses the students say they have paid for their classes and now they want a refund. >> we haven't heard anything about that i tried to get in contact with financial aid at this moment we cannot get our moneys back. >> no credit transfers in. >> no credit transfers. >> ability college has three campuses, -- act college has three campuses they went to the ceos neighbourhood to demand direct answers. >>> 8:26 a.m., mega mystery solved, next w

the flip-flop fleeted below from the family fled those killed in the shooting massacre. twin community have some 911 phone calls the cannot respond. >> to siri note -- a reduced serious crashes involving union the train one an delayed years. the driver of caused the accident is now in custody for possible de watch. the crash took out the back half of this to a difficult road. witnesses said the driver of the fcc was speeding down the southbound lanes of the embarcadero. they say he hit on car and slammed into the back of his throat. the three blocks north of this accident and light rail train collided with this red car. asked >>vicki: to close shattered thoughtful the defense of the the crash and robin father and his two daughters. >>nichole: this is the spot where the 4111 lin and his nine year-old daughter were killed after being hit by an suv saturday morning. >> it is that to match a little grove osborne break >> the driver ran over a fire hydrant before hitting the family on their bicycles. police are still investigating what caused the crash. >>vicki: into up police believe alcohol could have contributed to an early morning crash around 1:20 a.m.. there were two people ejected from th

. >> bart is going with the lowest bid in the battle to build a fleet enough rail cars. that decision is likely to upset union machinists and others who wanted more of the cars bimt in the united states. abc 7 is live at the west oakland bart station with the announcement. mark? >> there are three companies bid on this deal to build the bart cars. the three companies have factories in the united states but there is a big difference in price and also, in the percentage of the parts that would come from the united states. >> when you board a train... >> in this film from early 70s, this are cars portrayed as futuristic marvels of technology. but 40 years later these are the oldest cars still in use in the united states. bart wants to replace them with 775 brand new ones over 11 years. winning bid came from a canadian company at $1.5 billion. a french company came in second and a korean company overbid by $1 billion. >> bombaria rail cars are built in america and the bid $184 million lower than the next bidder. >> the french bid was $184 million more it promised to use more u.s. parts and pledged 95% of every ca

the board and everyone else to know that we support union jobs. >> protest as the bart board of directors here's staff recommendation to award a multibillion-dollar contract to a canadian company to build the bart fleet. >> the company that we are recommending has the highest technical score and also the lowest price. so it is really the best of both worlds. >> the parts spokesperson says the company came in half a billion dollars under budget with a $2.5 billion bid for the 775 new cars. this is an artist rendering provided by bart. >> if they can have people work for 20¢ per hour that would be cheap. we want jobs in america. that is what we are here for. >> allen says there are no american companies that build the kind of cars that it wants in fact the top three choices are in canada and korea and france. all pledging to use american parts and labor costs for the majority. >> pledging 66 percent of the parts have american contents, and assembling cars in america. >> on the east coast here is a picture of their new york factory. protesters want a larger percentage of american goods used in production. the congressman said a staffer to speak at the meeting. >> this is taxpayer dollars, and the congre

going with the -- bart staff going with the lowest bid in the battle to build a fleet of new rail cars. that decision is likely to upset union machinist however and others who wanted more of the cars built here in the united states. abc 7 news reporter mark matthews has more on today's big announcement. >> then you board a train. carpeted. air conditioned. >>reporter: in this bart film from the early 70's the cars were portrayed as future marvel of technology. >> you will enjoy the scenery from a full vista window. >>reporter: but 40 years later these are the oldest cars still in use in the united states. and bart wants to replace all of them with 7 75 brand new ones over the next 11 years. winning bid came from a canadian company bombard at a little over one and a half billion. french company allston came in second and korean company wasn't close bidding 1 million dollars. >> these are built in america and their bid was 184 million dollars lower than the next bidder. >>reporter: but while the french bid was 184 million dollars more, it also promised to use more u.s. parts. the french company pledged 95 percent of every car

union leaders. during a news conference they urged b.a.r.t. to stick to its commitment to buy american. the b.a.r.t. board will make a decision on a multibillion dollar contract for a new fleetf train cars. the congressman says during c construction of the bay bridge a few years ago, cal trains -- he doesn't want history to repeat itself. >> i think it's our tax money. are we going to send to china or spend our tax money here in the united states? we're going to spend the united states with american workers and american jobs. >> but recently announced bombardier is the top scorer in the bid to build the cars but the can aid kwan-based company still has hurdles to clear. >>> butt out. joining more than 100 u.s. cities in extending smoking bans to outdoor dining areas and other places people gather. the city council's vote was unanimous. the law already banned smoking within 25 feet of libraries and in parks and sporting arenas. today's vote extends the smoking ban to bars and restaurants, common areas of apartments and areas where people stand in line and gather outside such as the movie theater and a light rail station. it forbids smoking inside an apartment which is part of

prep f so controversial, when the plant wui in there was people who didn't want like fukushima couldn't happen but we are a valuable asset ve e u.s. nuclear fleet for the union elecareait >> the biggest concern i've had with the nrc over thar public understanding of otalistency. >> i wn' frontlininsabout a plant in virginia. different areas of the plant. i thwe macarthur foundation, still be discussing this so many years later. >> i think it... it's soin the already been relicensed. and by reva da then, last august... dedicated c it here then. nuclear power plant, which isuie reactors.e ju got here, we us to have this kind of a upgr iown the . life extension, if we operated 20 miles from north anna.it. frothe rack critical componentss itslu- ye ntinues online. >> o'brien: lynn sykes, a >> o'brien: that must be a the indian point plant is notniu six.stor. a bullet dodged. dedicated to heightening public w quickly enough because i think e a low-cost provider ofh the nr? as you go th ng t site move slowly. when they knew about taz >> bad science doesn'tus wel i 0 billion in earning t >> i wn' salary. challenge at a plant where the i think we're talkg ou kw, 20