I have a bit of a different view of the Chattahoochee. By the time the initial kinks in her machinery were worked out, she was a pretty good vessel. The explosion at Blountstown was due to human error, not mechanical malfunction. Her gun trials went extremely well and the ship handled the shock of the firing perfectly. I believe, had it not been for the Confederate army's obstructions in the Apalachicola River, she would have made a good account of herself against the blockade vessels off Apalachicola.

The real lament of her officers, once she was fully operational, was not the quality of the vessel, but the fact that they were blocked from reaching the Gulf by the obstructions.