Customer Reviews

Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads

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W.N.Still's book is rightfully called the standard of Confederate Naval history. Accurate and objective accounts of the major and most minor engagements with Union forces are combined with extensive background information. The newer editions have an enlarged section of historical drawings and sketches. Mr. Still explains the political background that gave rise to the Confederate Ironclad program and his research is impeccable. An exhaustive literature listing rounds out this excellent book. While strictly scientific the inclusion of historical eyewitness accounts and the always fluent style make this book a joy to read. This book is a great starting point and goes very well with Maurice Melton's more subjective and somewhat dated book on the same subject. Also very interesting to compare with Ivan Musicant's 'Divided Waters'.

A must for every Civil War student!

In this 1971 study, author William N. Still, Jr. recounts and analyzes the brief history of the homebuilt Confederate ironclad fleet.

Dr. Still provides a fine review of the military and political settings that led to the strategic naval programs of both sides. He then proceeds with a mostly sequential retelling of the ironclad history in each theater/region.

The author seems fair in his treatment of the principals and of both efforts. One can't help but recognize the demoralizing loss of the early ironclads after a promising start. The early program included ironclads that were intended to be seaworthy. But after the loss of all the early ironclads, the domestic strategy transitioned to construction of harbor/river defense vessels rather than oceangoing vessels.

The book reveals a chaotic naval building program operating under great adversity. Distributed construction programs, lack of time, labor, iron and plate were key recurring problems, but so were poor design and horrendous mechanical issues. Most ironclads were never completed due to lack of time and resources. Of those that were, few could achieve reasonable speeds or had other insurmountable problems. Several, such as the CSS Georgia, Tuscaloosa, and Huntsville, ended up serving as floating batteries. The propulsion was so weak or poorly designed that these-like the CSS Louisiana-could not even hold their ground in moderate current. The CSS Mississippi would have almost definitely suffered the same fate had it been completed.

With inevitable, foreseeable battle damage (such as riddled or missing stack) even the best were nearly crippled. Engine or steering failure contributed to the loss of some of the most storied boats including the CSS Tennessee and CSS Arkansas.

Dr. Still reviews how costly engineering errors prevented a few vessels from ever rendering effective service. The CSS Jackson (Muscogee) drew too deep a draft as a paddle wheeler and had to be rebuilt with a screw. The CSS Columbia was so structurally deficient that she failed after striking a snag, breaking her back. The CSS Louisiana's two in-line paddlewheels and screws were so inefficient that they made her both unsteerable and unable to resist the current under her own power. Another problem was green lumber and unsheathed hulls: the CSS North Carolina sank at her moorings due to a worm-eaten bottom.

To be fair, the US Navy's ironclad program had its share of engineering fiascoes, but it could afford far more mistakes than the resource strapped Confederacy. Despite many painful failures, losses, and waste, the CSN ironclads created great problems for the US Navy, and at times for the US Army.

The Confederate casemate ironclads did have some advantages compared to monitors. The angled shields could deflect a harder blow than vertical surfaces such as the center of a monitor turret. The CS Navy's Brooke rifles with wrought iron projectiles had more potential for piercing armor than the cast iron shot from the heavy smoothbores of the monitors. The larger casemate rams tended to be able to bring several times more guns to bear and maintain a higher rate of fire, and monitor turrets were susceptible to jamming due to battle damage. However, the key selling point of the casemate was that the CSA possessed the means of building them, while at the time more mechanically complex designs were infeasible for the CSA from a manufacturing and maintenance standpoint.

Unlike William Still's "Confederate Ship Building" which was too brief, this narrative's text is 231 pages, including seven maps and eighteen other illustrations. Following the text are a helpful bibliographic essay, bibliography, and an index.

This is a great reference and interesting read for those trying to understand the role and history of the CS ironclads. (Note that this does not include foreign built armored vessels such as the Laird rams or the CSS Stonewall.)

THE NAME STILL IS A SURE FIRE GUIDE TO GOOD WRITING OF GOOD HISTORY. THIS BOOK ELEVATES HIS REPUTATION. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF OTHER WORKS ON THE IRON CLADS BUT THIS GIVES A CONCISE AND VERY READABL ACCOUNT OF THE BUILDING OF THESE WSHIPS IN A CONFEDERACY STRAPPED FOR CASH, MEN ND MATERIAL.

THIS BOOK SATISFIES THE NAVAL CONSTRUCTION ENTHUSIAST, THE READER INTERESTED IN THE PERSONALITIES INVOLVED, AND THE HISTORIAN OF THE CONFEDERACY. A GREAT READ FOR EVERY HISTORIAN AND ADVENTURIST.

A comprehensive,yet concise history of the C.S.A.'s naval development of the ironclad warship.Still covers the construction,deployment,and fate of these fascinating vessels.I was amazed at the difficulties faced by the builders re.materiel,and the problems of getting the ships from their construction sites into action. Further ,he explores the manpower issues regarding manning the vessels vs.the army's needs and their refusal to share manpower with the navy. Well researched,reads quite easily.I wished for more illustration work re. the ships themselves,even if just artist's conceptions.Highly recommended to both serious and casual students of the war of Northern Agression.