--With regards to Chattahoochee officers requesting reassignment: what officer wouldn't want reassignment from gunboats far from action on a relative backwater, to ironclads or other boats destined for action?

Shawn- Had the Chattahoochee exibited the least bit of reliability I'm certain that her crew would have had ample chances to strike targets on the Gulf of Mexico. The frustration of being chained to "a floating battery" led them to set pen to paper in quest of reassignment. Some of the crew of the Chattahoochee had made sure they were on her because they knew of the potential for success in the Gulf.

--The CSS Virginia had major flaws. It drew far too much water (this eventually proving fatal.) And it was only a retrofit, a very important and novel one, but a retrofit of a U.S. vessel nonetheless. Her propulsion was problematic before the war and would prove so again.

The depth of draw of the converted frigate wasn't the problem. She was ordered destroyed by Huger after the threat of her berth being victim of Federal investment had passed. Bad communications are at fault for this one. Yes, the reason the U.S.S. Merrimac was left at Norfolk was the worn-out powertrain.

The reduction of Southern manufacturing capability was goal to the Federal war planning from day one.