Merrimack, The Biography of a Steam Frigate [Premium Color]
394Merrimack, The Biography of a Steam Frigate [Premium Color]
394Hardcover
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Overview
Merrimack is the biography of a warship, the U.S. Steam Frigate Merrimack. Her name has long been linked to the first duel of ironclads, an epic Civil War battle fought at Hampton Roads between the Monitor and Merrimack. But over time the myth of the Merrimack—actually the C.S.S. Virginia—displaced the memory of a magnificent antebellum U.S. Navy warship. The steam frigate Merrimack lost her identity. Nearly forgotten is the story of the original Merrimack, the namesake of a class of six powerful war steamers. When built she was the largest vessel in the U.S. Navy, the nation’s first screw-propelled frigate and the earliest major warship to be armed entirely with shell-firing guns. Her first commission took her on a tour of the principal naval stations of Europe. During her second commission, she served as flagship of the Navy’s Pacific Squadron, cruising the shores of Chile, Peru, Panama, Hawaii, Mexico and Nicaragua. Through the copious use of Merrimack’s deck logs, official correspondence, contemporary newspapers and journals, and original construction plans, the author’s research illuminates the mechanical issues and human interactions that indelibly shaped Merrimack’s brief career. The author provides an unparalleled glimpse into the day-to-day events that defined the life of an active antebellum warship. But Merrimack offers more than just a summary of the ship’s operational life. The author, a professional naval architect and marine engineer, dissects the origins of her design and compares the Merrimack class steam frigates to contemporary U.S. and British warships. He also examines the controversy surrounding her troubled engines, documenting their performance using archived drawings and steam log data. In summary, Merrimack embraces the many threads of a bygone era—history, biography, geography and technology—and has woven them together in telling of the story of the U.S. Steam Frigate Merrimack.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781622734498 |
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Publisher: | Vernon Press |
Publication date: | 10/23/2018 |
Series: | Series in American History |
Pages: | 394 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.19(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
List of Maps, Images and Plans
Acknowledgements
Prologue
BOOK ONE: Special Service
Chapter 1 Six First-Class Steam-Frigates
Chapter 2 Constructor Lenthall’s Conundrum
Chapter 3 The Charlestown Navy Yard
Chapter 4 A Warship is Commissioned
Chapter 5 The Trial Trip—What Does It All Mean?
Chapter 6 Commander Dahlgren and the Presidential Visit
Chapter 7 Derangement in our Motive Power
Chapter 8 Repairs at Boston
Chapter 9 New York Trial Voyage
Chapter 10 Southampton Water
Chapter 11 European Port Tour
Chapter 12 West Indian Cruise
Chapter 13 Hampton Roads and Lay-up
BOOK TWO: Pacific Squadron
Chapter 14 Recommissioning
Chapter 15 Around the Horn
Chapter 16 West Coast of South America
Chapter 17 The City of Kings
Chapter 18 On to Panama
Chapter 19 Back to Peru
Chapter 20 The Lure of Hawaii
Chapter 21 Realejo and Walker’s Legacy
Chapter 22 Panama, Callao and Long’s Failing Health
Chapter 23 Change of Command
Chapter 24 Homeward Bound!
Epilogue
Appendix 1 U.S. Navy Deck Logs
Appendix 2 Principal Officers, Special Service
Appendix 3 Principal Officers, Pacific Squadron
Appendix 4 Inventory of Government Funds and Provisions in the Purser’s Dept.
End Notes
Bibliography
Index