Winner, Engineer-Historian Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers

From steam engines to dreadnought battleships to aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered submarines, each large technical innovation in the U.S. Navy has met with resistance and even hostility from those officers who have grown used to a certain style of fighting. William M. McBride examines how the navy dealt with technological change -- from the end of the Civil War through the "age of the battleship" -- as technology became more complex and the nation assumed a global role.

"This masterly study of the interaction between technological change and service politics in the U.S. Navy deserves to become a standard work." -- Sir Michael Howard, former Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford University

"This fine study explores the dynamics through which American naval officers have interacted with technological change." -- Journal of Military History

"An intellectual history of American naval technology that examines the dominance of the battleship mentality... Thought-provoking, a book sure to spark debate." -- Technology and Culture

"One could say this is yet another book about the rise and fall of the battleship as the centerpiece of naval power. But what sets the author's subtle work apart from earlier histories is his purpose. He sets out neither to defame nor defend naval leaders... [A] well-balanced analysis." -- U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings

William M. McBride is a professor of history at the U.S. Naval Academy and former inaugural Shaeffer Distinguished Humanist at James Madison University.