Ironclads and big guns of the Confederacy
Subtitle: the journal and letters of John M. Brooke
By: edited by George M. Brooke, Jr.
Contributors: Brooke, George M.
Series: Studies in maritime history
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Columbia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 257
Subjects: Brooke, John M. 1826-1906 -- Diaries.; Brooke, John M. 1826-1906 -- Correspondence.; Confederate States of America. Navy -- Officers -- Diaries.; Confederate States of America. Navy -- Officers -- Correspondence.; Virginia (Ironclad); Confederate States of America. Navy -- Ordnance and ordnance stores.; Inventors -- Confederate States of America -- Biography.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Naval operations, Confederate.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives, Confederate.
Genres: Diaries.; Correspondence.; Biography.; Personal narratives, Confederate.
Description: "Loaded with previously unavailable information about the Confederate Navy's effort to supply its fledgling forces, the wartime diaries and letters of John M. Brooke (1826-1906) tell the story of the Confederate naval ordnance office, its innovations, and its strategic vision.

As Confederate commander of ordnance and hydrography in Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War, Brooke numbered among the military officers who resigned their U.S. commissions and "went South" to join the Confederate forces at the onset of the conflict. A twenty-year veteran of the United States Navy who had been appointed a midshipman at the age of fourteen, Brooke was largely a self-taught military scientist whose inventions included the Brooke Deep-Sea Sounding Lead. In addition to his achievments as an inventor, Brookes was a draftsman, diarist, and inveterate letter-writer.

His copious correspondence about military and personal matters from the war yields detailed and often unexpected insights into the Confederacy's naval operations."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-252 and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : Brooke's actions on the eve of war; title: Brooke's resignation from the United States Navy and appointment to Confederate service; title: Conversion of the Merrimac to the Virginia and experiments in ordnance; title: The Virginia in Hampton Roads; title: James River defense, inventions, personal woes, and promotion; title: Developments in ordnance; title: Personal sorrow and continued activity in ordnance; title: Hard work to the end.