Civil War Ironclads

After retiring from the navy in 1994 as a surface warfare officer, William H. Roberts earned his Ph.D. in history at the Ohio State University in Columbus. He is the author of USS New Ironsides in the Civil War and "Now for the Contest": Coastal and Oceanic Naval Operations in the Civil War.

• Contents: List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1 "I Have Shouldered This Fleet" - Gustavus Fox and "Monitor Mania" 2 Forging the Fleet - Alban C. Stimers and the Passaic Project 3 The Navy Looks West 4 Mobilization on the Ohio River 5 Miserable Failures - Combat Lessons and Political Engineering 6 A Million of Dollars - The Price of "Continuous Improvement" 7 Progress Retarded - The Harbor and River Monitors, 1863-1864 8 The Sudden Destruction of Bright Hopes - The Downfall of the General Inspector 9 Good for Fifty Years - Winding Down the Mobilization 10 Additions, Alterations, and Improvements - Reversing Technological Momentum Appendix Tabular Data for Passaic- and Tippecanoe-Class Monitors Abbreviations Notes Essay on Sources Index

An important study of institutional response to a new technology that holds lessons for today. Choice 2003 In this impressively researched and broadly conceived study, William Roberts offers the first comprehensive study of one of the most ambitious programs in the history of naval shipbuilding, the Union's ironclad program during the Civil War. Perhaps more importantly, Roberts also provides an invaluable framework for understanding and analyzing military-industrial relations, an insightful commentary on the military acquisition process, and a cautionary tale on the perils of the pursuit of perfection and personal recognition. -- Robert Angevine Journal of Military History Well researched... Any Civil War scholar or naval historian, regardless of specialty, will find something of interest in the volume. -- James E. Sefton History: Reviews of New Books Well-conceived and well-written... One of the strengths of the book is the author's comparison of ironclad-building efforts with modern military-industrial efforts such as the Polaris Fleet Ballistic missile program. -- David Surdam EH.Net Roberts does an excellent job detailing the rise and fall of the [monitor-building] programs, including the major design elements and changes that contributed to the debacle. He skillfully weaves in the key operations that disclosed the monitors' shortcomings... Every major character involved is presented... Civil War Ironclads is an excellent addition to the literature of the period. -- Donald L. Canney Nautical Research Journal 2003 Roberts's study, illuminating on many fronts, is a welcome addition to our understanding of the Union's industrial mobilization during the Civil War and its inadvertent effects on the postwar U.S. Navy. -- William M. McBride Technology and Culture 2004 [A] readable and well-researched account of Civil War ironclad production. -- Benjamin Franklin Cooling Journal of American History 2004 This is an important book that should be in the library of all those interested in the Civil War at sea. -- Spencer C. Tucker North and South 2004 A valuable read for the specialist in Civil War navies. NYMAS Review 2008 Civil War Ironclads could easily be a case study to accompany any text in the history of technology or management. Anyone concerned with managing complex technology, of which building warships is still among the most complex, will be able to apply lessons learned. -- Kathy Crewdson and Ian Dew The Northern Mariner 2007