War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: March 24, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 200
ISBN-13: 9780801862502
Subjects: American history: c 1800 to c 1900; Civil war; Naval forces & warfare; Weapons & equipment; c 1800 to c 1900; Military - United States; Military; History - Military / War; United States; USA; Monitor (Ironclad); Military - Naval; United States - Civil War; Science / History; United States.; Military - Other; Civil War, 1861-1865; History; Naval operations; Navy
First sentence: About an hour's train ride south of London, one can visit today the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the centuries-old home of the Royal Navy, now an impressive museum.
Description: Explores the story of how mariners-- fighting "blindly" below the waterline-- lived and coped with the metal monster they called the "iron coffin." The author shows how the iron warship emerged as an idea and became practicable, how building it drew upon and forced changes in contemporary manufacturing technology, and how the vessel captured the nineteenth-century American popular and literary imaginations. He shows how technology changes not only the tools but also the very experience of combat, generating effects that are still felt today in the era of "smart bombs" and pushbutton wars.