A History of Ironclads: The Power of Iron Over Wood

By John V. Quarstein
Illustrated, maps, appendices, select bibliography, index, softcover, 284 pp., 2006. The History Press, 18 Percy St., Charleston, SC 29403, $24.99 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Joseph Derie
Joseph Derie is a VMI graduate and a long time Civil War buff and military book reviewer. A retired Coast Guard officer and licensed officer of the Merchant Marine, he is a Certified Marine Investigator and marine surveyor.

Review:
A History of Ironclads is "in essence the history of the rise of technology building up to the Civil War and the subsequent development of ironclad warships, which would dominate the seas for the next sixty years."

The author, a noted Civil War naval historian, states it originally began as a chronology "to guide the creation of The Mariners' Museum USS Monitor Center exhibit to explain the historical and technological background to the March 8-9, 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads."

The chronology was later expanded when it was realized that the battle between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia was a beginning not an ending.

The timeline begins in 1190 BC when "Ramses III defeated an invasion of the 'Sea People' using warships powered by oar and sail with a bow ram," and the last entries concern the decommissioning and scrapping of the last U.S. Navy monitor-type vessels. These were turreted, low freeboard vessels suitable for harbor or near-coastal defense only.

The more technological advanced offspring of the original Monitor, some were obsolete before they were launched. They were built in the 1890s or later and broken up in the 1930s.

The final entry is the scrapping of the hull of the former USS Amphitrite in 1952. By that time the vessel's topsides had been converted to a floating barracks for World War II, it was later converted to a floating hotel and finally a failed floating restaurant.

In keeping with one of its themes, the evolution of technology and tactics, the volume is constructed in nine chapters: Oar to Sail; Sail to Steam; Shot to Shell; Wood to Iron; The Power of Wood Over Iron; Iron Fever; Questions of Iron and Time; Sink before Surrender; and Victory and Vision.

Perhaps of even more interest to the Civil War naval buff are the three appendices: Ironclad Recovery (successful and unsuccessful efforts to raise various Civil War ironclads); Union Ironclads, and Confederate Ironclads.

There are also excellent maps of a number of naval battles, from Lepanto to Santiago Bay, including the Civil War battles of Hampton Roads, New Orleans (passing of the Mississippi forts), Drewry's Bluff and Mobile Bay.

The volume is well-written and wonderfully illustrated. It is of course heavy on Civil War-era photographs and illustrations, but the illustrations of earlier naval eras and photographs of later monitor-type vessels are also of interest.

Quarstein has put an incredible amount of research and work into this volume. It will be of great interest to Civil War naval enthusiasts as well as those interested in the history of naval tactics and technology.

It will also be of interest to other Civil War buffs because of its chronology and the Civil War ironclads and their battles. The book is highly recommended.