Review - "From Ironclads to Admiral: John Lorimer Worden and Naval Leadership" by Quarstein & Worden

[From Ironclads to Admiral: John Lorimer Worden and Naval Leadership by John V. Quarstein & Robert L. Worden (Naval Institute Press, 2025). Hardcover, 4 maps, photos, illustrations, appendix section, endnotes, source essay, index. Pages main/total:xv,207/293. ISBN:978-1-68247-444-0. $34.95]

John L. Worden will always be remembered foremost for being the commander of USS Monitor during the famous 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads. His ship versus ship duel with the CSS Virginia proved to be one of naval history's defining engagements of the transition period between the age of wood and sail to a new age of iron and steam, the latter quickly leading to the all big-gun castles of steel that came to represent modern naval power and influence well into the twentieth century. However, while Worden's name has been forever etched into remembrance of that dramatic historical event, his distinguished naval career before, during, and well after the Civil War has, until now, never been properly documented and recognized within the pages of a full-length biography. Ably filling that gap are John Quarstein, former director of the Virginia War Museum and emeritus director of the USS Monitor Center, and Robert Worden, retired from a career with the Library of Congress and a collateral descendant of John L. Worden. These prolific researchers and authors have combined their backgrounds and knowledge to produce From Ironclads to Admiral: John Lorimer Worden and Naval Leadership, a publishing 'first' that provides a very fine comprehensive portrait of its subject's private life and long professional career both ashore and afloat.

It appears that details about the early life of John Worden (surname rhyming with 'burden,' the original spelling being Werden) are pretty sparse. Family connections, those of the Graham family of New York in particular, are cited by the authors as a possible main source of inspiration behind young Worden's decision to embark upon a naval career. At the time, officer development was an entirely hands-on shipboard process, and the book, by tracing Worden's early experiences aboard several vessels, provides readers with a fine introduction into nineteenth-century US Navy midshipmen training.

A major theme of the book is Worden's evolution into becoming a well-regarded scientific officer through multiple stints at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. There, Worden documented meticulous astronomical and meteorological observations and honed his high order mathematical skills through recording calculations based on those observations, particularly the former. It was during his first Observatory assignment that Worden was married, an apparently happy union with Olivia Toffey that produced a family and survived numerous extended absences. Other duties that Worden became closely associated with were the inventorying, testing, and rating of the Navy's modern navigational and scientific instruments.

As the book reveals, lifelong precarious health proved to be a major theme shaping Worden's story. At the same time, though, that laundry list of ailments affecting him over the duration of his professional career did not not keep him from logging an equally long list of noteworthy achievements. When and where these health problems occurred (or recurred) are recorded at length in the appendix section.

The naval component of the 1846-48 war between the United States and Mexico is largely an afterthought in the popular literature of that conflict, at least when compared with the extensive range of published studies of the major land campaigns fought in both northern and central Mexico. Addressing that gap, this biography provides a number of insights into Mexican War naval operations along the Pacific Coast. Worden's first wartime assignment was with a supply ship, but he nevertheless had firsthand experiences with the navy's blockading and seizing of Mexican ports as well as with shore operations supporting small coastal garrisons defending against Mexican attacks. In between the Mexican War and the outbreak of the Civil War, Worden returned to the Naval Observatory and was also posted to the career-enhancing Brooklyn Naval Yard.

The study does not delve much into Worden's political views beyond noting that he was a life-long Democrat. During the secession crisis, his War Democrat credentials were without doubt unimpeachable, as he was entrusted by Navy Secretary Gideon Welles with carrying confidential dispatches to Fort Pickens, the standoff at Pensacola, Florida being one of the national emergency's most delicate political situations and potential military flashpoint. Events, including the firing on Fort Sumter, overtook Worden on the return journey, though, and he was arrested by Confederate authorities and held prisoner for nearly six months. According to the authors, that made Worden the first northern POW of the Civil War.

With a single paragraph devoted to the subject, it remains unclear exactly how the Ironclad Board's selection process led to Worden being assigned captain of the Monitor. Whether it was a case of Worden being in the right place at the right time (his recent release from long confinement by the Confederates was well publicized, and he was readily available awaiting assignment) or his reputation as a scientific officer (though his background was not in naval or steam engineering) was looked upon as a strong prerequisite for managing an experimental vessel, the board judged him the "right sort of officer to put in command of her" (pg. 80).

Given the already exhaustive nature of the literature related to the Battle of Hampton Roads, the book addresses the Monitor's construction, its nearly fatal journey to Hampton Roads, and its celebrated duel with the Virginia in a single, relatively brief chapter that captures the essentials. The main takeaway is the demonstration of Worden's leadership qualities throughout the process between trial runs and his serious wounding in action. Those traits are listed by the Foreword writer as high-order "courage, perseverance, decision-making, and tactical and technical proficiency" (pg. xii). Along with his wielding a sage balance between imposing discipline and granting leniency that made him popular among subordinate officers and crewmen alike, Worden's excellence in those aforementioned areas is exhibited throughout the book. The nature of Worden's wounds incurred during the fight with the Virginia, which included severe ocular trauma, and his road to recovery are well described in the text.

As the authors explain, Worden's wounds and hard-earned experiences led him to submit numerous official-channel suggestions for improvements to the navy's present and future turreted ironclad designs. Some of Worden's recommendations, such as an improved pilothouse arrangement, were approved, but it was nevertheless the case that intraservice decision-making conflicts and the nature of construction contracts still left every ironclad class with serious design flaws.

Recovering his eyesight enough to return to active service, Worden was assigned to command the USS Montauk, a Passaic-class monitor. While destruction of the CSS Rattlesnake, formerly the cruiser Nashville, was noteworthy, his most significant action was his testing of Montauk's ability to reduce Fort McAllister in Georgia. The clear failure to force the fort's surrender convinced Worden that monitors, having only two guns per turret (both slow-firing), did not possess the weight and rapidity of fire necessary to suppress or destroy extensive enemy fortifications. The failure of his superiors to heed his reports, along with a heavy dose of rivalry with the army as to who would capture Charleston, resulted in an intense battering of the ironclad squadron assembled at Charleston Harbor in April 1863, an attack in which Worden also participated. Finally compelled to realize that ironclads alone could not force the issue, from then on army-navy combined operations were the rule for confronting enemy harbors and their protective ring of forts and entrenched batteries.

After Charleston, Worden's failing health landed him back at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for more rounds of overseeing new monitor designs and construction. Non-ironclad construction also proceeded, and Worden's experience with ships like the Idaho illustrate the many enduring problems and challenges involved with steam-sail combo warship designs. He also returned to sea with the North Pacific Squadron.

In another career highlight, Worden served as the seventh superintendent of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. The authors acknowledge divisions among historians in regard to Worden's traditional versus progressive legacy at the head of that venerable institution, and they adopt a judicious approach to that debate as well as in assessing Worden's actions and attitudes toward the admittance of non-white cadets and the apparently intractable problem of cadet hazing rituals. Worden's last great service to the country was in commanding the European Squadron during a period of time in the Mediterranean Sea that, given the great distance from Washington and intermittent communications, required both decisive decision-making and delicate diplomatic awareness.

In examining the entire breadth of John L. Worden's nearly fifty-three years of service in the US Navy, From Ironclads to Admiral goes well beyond the famous duel at Hampton Roads to provide readers with the first full assessment of that distinguished officer's many other contributions to Union ironclad development and naval superiority during the Civil War. Authors Quarstein and Worden also record their subject's significant impact on scientific advancement, protecting United States national interests overseas, and officer education. The attachment of Worden's name to numerous memorials, including a coastal fort, the parade ground at the Naval Academy, and four US Navy ships, attests to how well John L. Worden was admired and remembered by previous generations, and this fine biography reminds the present and future reader why such honors were so richly deserved.