Roberts Civil War Ironclads

The U.S. Navy and Industrial Mobilization
Erscheinungsjahr 2003
ISBN: 978-0-8018-7370-6
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 0 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Roberts, William H.

Fachgebiete

• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technikgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Seestreitkräfte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Technische Wissenschaften Verkehrstechnik | Transportgewerbe Schiffbau, Seeverkehr
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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

Über Autor(innen)

Roberts, William H.
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.