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Tag: Military

  • Conserving the Samuel Hartt Pook Papers

    These documents outline, firsthand, the career of Naval Architect Samuel Hartt Pook. These historic papers highlight one of the most significant advancements in American Naval history. At the onset of the Civil War, Pook and his father (also a naval architect) aided the transition of the US fleet from wooden to iron and steel-hulled warships.

  • USS Neversail: The Landlocked Ship That Made Its Own Waves

    • Collections
    • Military
    • Photography
    • Technology

    During World War I, a Navy vessel ‘sailed’ the concrete of New York City for three years. The only water it ever encountered was from the sky and the city’s municipal water supply. The battleship, nicknamed “USS Neversail” and the “Street Dreadnaught,” was officially christened USS Recruit.

  • Coastal Ironclads Other Than Monitors

    • Civil War
    • Military
    • Military Conflict

    The American Civil War is often considered the first modern industrial war. Both North and South endeavored to mobilize their resources to wage total war. This experience revolutionized naval warfare, and in doing so, forever changed America’s political, social, and economic fabric.

  • River Monitors

    • Civil War
    • Military
    • Military Conflict
    • Technology

    At the onset of the Civil War, General Winfield Scott noted that a Union victory could be achieved by controlling the Mississippi River. Scott believed the entire Mississippi Valley could be controlled using only 12 to 20 gunboats and 60,000 soldiers. More resources would eventually be needed; however, the Federals ultimately enabled, as President Abraham Lincoln said, the ‘Father of All Rivers to flow unvexed to the sea.’

  • Boring USS Monitor’s Dahlgren Guns

    Monitor’s guns are the largest guns to ever be bored, giving this significant conservation step its own mark in history. The removal of the marine material was the final mechanical cleaning step before the guns can be dried and put on display.

  • Naval Intelligence in Hampton Roads: 1861-1862

    • Civil War
    • Hampton Roads History
    • Military
    • Military Conflict

    There was no formal naval intelligence system established during the American Civil War. While a few examples exist of Northern sympathizers, free Blacks, like Mary Louvestre of Portsmouth, sent messages to various Union commanders about the Confederate ironclad construction effort.

  • A Haunting in Hampton Roads: The Ghost Fleet on the James River

    • Collections
    • Hampton Roads History
    • Military
    • Photography

    A few weeks ago, on a late summer boat ride on the James River, I noticed the outlines of looming grey ships in the distance that I hadn’t seen before. “What are those?” I wondered aloud.

  • Frames of Destruction

    • Collections
    • Exploration
    • Military
    • Military Conflict
    • Shipbuilding

    During my time at Mariners’ I have frequently been intrigued by an odd looking object in one of our storage areas but time wasn’t always available to learn more about it. That recently changed for one object when I spent several months researching the history behind a piece that has always intrigued me—a large, bent, barbed, piece of iron–the spear of a chevaux-de-frise.

  • Lots of Mud, a Battleship, a Ferry, a T-shirt, High Tides, and a UFO.

    • Collections
    • Military
    • Military Conflict
    • Technology

    What do a Battleship, 1950, mud, high tides, a Hudson River Ferry, a T-shirt, and a UFO all have in common?

  • Mariners’ Collection of Curiosities: Spooky and Peculiar Artifacts from the Archives

    • Collections
    • Military

    Fear Not! For I have scoured The Mariners’ Collection, walked the dark storage rooms, and gotten up close and personal with five of our creepiest and most mysterious artifacts, so you don’t have to. I’ve listed the following artifacts for their varying levels of creep-factor or for the fascinating or mysterious stories behind them. All jus

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