This is not a review but a call for help. A market that needs to be met is a fact based but fictional history of the Union blockade of the Confederacy along the lines of C. S. Forrester's Hornblower novels.

The growth of the American Navy as a permanent force on the seas began in the Civil War and the building of the blockading force should provide a rich background to any solid writer of fiction that choses to devote the time to it.

As a wargamer, i bought this book to have detailed information and pictures about ironclads but i got much more. The author not only gives plenty of details for each class of vessels but you also get insider information on how to build an ironclad, the life at sea at the time and a description of every shipyard then in use, some still as it were. For the navy buff and/or wargamer. Lots of pictures.

If there is an heir to Chapelle's "History of the American Sailing Navy," it is this book. The format is somewhat similar, but with the inclusion of photos in addition to plans. This book picks up where Chapelle left off, with the early steam ships of the US Navy. These are the ships of fame of the Civil War, on which little good information is avaliable. The steam frigates are covered in detail, as well as the sea going sloops and gunboats. The section on the USS Michigan does not do her justice, nor is there a lot information on the engines of the period, but this book is an important missing link in US warship design history from the USS Constellation to the steel hulled ships of the Great White Fleet. Well worth the purchase price to a person interested in period naval archecture, as is VOL II, The Ironclads, and his book on Revenue Cutters.

In his preface to "Sailing Warships of the US Navy" author Donald Canney pays tribute to Howard Chapelle's "The History of the American Sailing Navy", but also notes the limitations of that classic work in its failure to meet the standards of modern historical research by inadequately documenting source citations and, sometimes, in poorly evaluating primary sources. Canney explains that he does not seek to replace, but to complement Chapelle's book with its meticulously executed ships' plans. And Canney well succeeds in this goal.

All of the ships built for the American navy before the era of steam are covered, most of them in considerable detail, showing the original lines plans where available (it should be noted that due to the age and physical condition of these plans, some lack clear detail). These are supplemented by paintings and, especially for the vessels built after the early 19th Century, photographs. Special attention is given to design and construction considerations, although the full career and ultimate fate of each vessel are summarized. Furthermore, in the course of discussing the individual ships, Canney develops a more general history of design trends and employment.

While Paul Silverstone's "The Sailing Navy, 1775-1854" is a useful quick reference to the ships of this era, Canney's book provides a much greater in-depth look. "Sailing Warships of the US Navy" does not mean that Chapelle's history is obsolete, but you should make a space on the bookshelf next to it for Canney's volume. This is a book which is truly a "must have" for anyone interested in the US Navy during the Age of Sail.