| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 106.5

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 106.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

David A. Mindell. War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2000. Pp. x, 187. Cloth $35.00, paper $14.95.

It fought only one battle, and that was a draw. It went to sea, proved unseaworthy, and sank, taking sixteen crew to their deaths. Years later, one of its commanders committed suicide, distraught over allegations of cowardice. This is the story of the USS Monitor, next to "Old Ironsides" the most famous vessel in American naval history. 1

In the face of its limited accomplishment in battle, how is it that this ironclad commands such attention? Part of the answer lies in the fact that it was a central player in America's greatest dramatic production: the Civil War. Like the cavalry in a Hollywood movie, at the most critical juncture, when all seemed lost, the ship arrived in the nick of time to save the day. It also helped that, as the main character, the Monitor has a colorful supporting cast. Her brilliant designer, John Ericsson, for example, refused to acknowledge any shortcomings in his vessel while at the same time rejecting invitations to sail aboard her. Ericsson was the kind of engineer/designer who never allowed experience to stand in the way of theory. The Monitor, in fact, had serious design flaws. Ventilation below decks was so abysmal that her crew was at greater hazard from heat and stench than from enemy shot. It also leaked a great deal. Ericsson refused to admit any errors in design. He either denounced his critics as fools, or, in the case of men who actually served aboard the ship, he charged them with incompetence. . . .

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