Ironclad - Hardcover

Clancy, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071431322 ISBN 13: 9780071431323

Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2006

Synopsis

"A cheesebox on a shingle," scoffed one observer as the USS Monitor steamed slowly toward the Confederacy's hulking iron battleship in March 1862. "A tin can on a shingle," said another. But the odd-looking contraption with its revolving gun turret revolutionized naval warfare. Its one great battle in the spring of 1862 marked the obsolescence of wooden fighting ships and may have saved the Union. Its terrible end in a winter storm off Cape Hatteras condemned sixteen sailors to a watery grave. And the recovery of its 200-ton turret in August 2002 capped the largest, most complex and hazardous ocean salvage operation in history.In "Ironclad", Paul Clancy interweaves these stories so skilfully that the cries of drowning Union sailors sound a ghostly undertone to the cough of diesel generators and the clanging of compression-chamber doors on a huge recovery barge. The din and screech of cannonballs on iron plating echo beneath the hum of electronic monitors and the garbled voices of Navy divers working at the edge of human technology and endurance in water 240 feet deep. Clancy studied the letters and diaries of the Monitor's long-ago sailors, and he moved among the salvage divers and archaeologists in the summer of 2002. John L. Worden, captain of the Monitor, strides from these pages no less vividly than the remarkable Bobbie Scholley, the woman commander of 160 Navy divers on an extreme mission. Clancy writes history as it really happens, the improbable conjunction of personalities, ideas, circumstances, and chance.The Union navy desperately needed an answer to the Confederacy's ironclad dreadnought, and the brilliantly eccentric Swedish engineer John Ericsson had one. And 140 years later, when marine archaeologists despaired of recovering any part of the Monitor before it disintegrated, a few visionaries in the U.S. Navy saw an opportunity to resurrect their deep-water saturation diving program. From the breakneck pace of Monitor's conception, birth, and brief career, to the years of careful planning and perilous labour involved in her recovery, "Ironclad" tells a compelling tale of technological revolution, wartime heroism, undersea adventure, and forensic science. This book is must-reading for anyone interested in Civil War and naval history, diving and underwater salvage, or adventures at sea.

About this title

Review

"Ironclad is a fascinating glimpse into our nation's history--an engrossing story of heroism, human ingenuity, and intrigue wrapped in a great adventure."
-Kevin F. McMurray, author, Deep Descent and Dark Descent
"Paul Clancy's masterful investigation into the recovery of the Monitor is a thrilling re-creation, making for a satisfying story of men--and women--on the high seas."
-Peter Nichols, author, A Voyage for Madmen and Evolution's Captain
"Ironclad is solid history written in riveting, heart-pounding prose."
-John B. Hightower, President & CEO, The Mariner's Museum
Paul Clancy s masterful investigation into the recovery of the Monitor is a thrilling re-creation, making for a satisfying story of men and women on the high seas.
Peter Nichols, author, A Voyage for Madmen and Evolution s Captain
"

Ironclad is solid history written in riveting, heart-pounding prose.
John B. Hightower, President & CEO, The Mariner s Museum
"

About the Author

Paul Clancy has been a journalist for more than 30 years. He has worked as a staff writer for The Charlotte Observer, The Washington Star, USA Today, and The Virginian-Pilot. Clancy was also a regular contributor to The Washington Post's Outlook Section. His journalistic focus has gradually moved from national affairs and politics to sea adventures and nautical history. He was the editor of Calypso Log, the magazine of the Cousteau Society, and was a regular contributor until the demise of the American edition in 1996. He has written for other magazines including Smithsonian, Cruising World, Nature Conservancy, Destination Discovery, and Chesapeake Bay. He is the author of several books.

Edition details

• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0071431322
• ISBN 13: 9780071431323
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288