Civil War Ironclads: The U.S. Navy and Industrial Mobilization

William H. Roberts

JHU Press, 2002 - Business & Economics - 285 pages

Honorable Mention, Science and Technology category, John Lyman Book Awards, North American Society for Oceanic History

Civil War Ironclads supplies the first comprehensive study of one of the most ambitious programs in the history of naval shipbuilding. In constructing its new fleet of ironclads, William H. Roberts explains, the U.S. Navy faced the enormous engineering challenges of a largely experimental technology. In addition, it had to manage a ship acquisition program of unprecedented size and complexity. To meet these challenges, the Navy established a "project office" that was virtually independent of the existing administrative system. The office spearheaded efforts to broaden the naval industrial base and develop a marine fleet of ironclads by granting shipbuilding contracts to inland firms. Under the intense pressure of a wartime economy, it learned to support its high-technology vessels while incorporating the lessons of combat.

But neither the broadened industrial base nor the advanced management system survived the return of peace. Cost overruns, delays, and technical blunders discredited the embryonic project office, while capital starvation and never-ending design changes crippled or ruined almost every major builder of ironclads. When Navy contracts evaporated, so did the shipyards. Contrary to widespread belief, Roberts concludes, the ironclad program set Navy shipbuilding back a generation.

Contents

• Introduction: 3
• I Have Shouldered This Fleet Gustavus Fox and Monitor Mania: 11
• Forging the Fleet General Inspector Alban C Stimers and the Passaic Project: 27
• The Navy Looks West: 47
• Mobilization on the Ohio River: 71
• Miserable Failures Combat Lessons and Political Engineering: 86
• A Million of Dollars The Price of Continuous Improvement: 103
• Progress Retarded The Harbor and River Monitors 18631864: 124
• The Sudden Destruction of Bright Hopes The Downfall of the General Inspector: 149
• Good for Fifty Years Winding Down the Mobilization: 172
• Additions Alterations and Improvements Reversing Technological Momentum: 200
• Tabular Data for Passaic and TippecanoeClass Monitors: 213
• Abbreviations: 215
• Motes: 217
• Essay on Sources: 271
• Index: 279

About the author

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.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Civil War Ironclads: The U.S. Navy and Industrial Mobilization; Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology
• Author: William H. Roberts
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: JHU Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0801868300, 9780801868306
• Length: 285 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Industries / Transportation; History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Military / Naval; History / Military / United States; History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877); Political Science / Public Policy / Military Policy; Technology & Engineering / History; Technology & Engineering / Marine & Naval; Transportation / Ships & Shipbuilding / History