Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War

Ivan Musicant's account is thouroughly researched and highly accurate but lacks the enjoyable qualities of Still's or Melton's books on the same subject. While the largest portion on Musicant's book focuses on the USN and CSN ironclads the book is trying to cover too many things at once.Nevertheless it is a good starting point for interested students of Civil War naval history but if your interest lies primarily in ironclads there is better.Divided Waters becomes more usable as a reference when compared with and offset with Maurice Melton and William Still. I also felt that Mr. Musicant's angle was slightly subjective, leaning towards the Union eyewitness accounts.

In Divided Waters, Ivan Musicant provides a solid, although at times basic, overview of Confederate and Union naval efforts, strategies, conflicts and technological developments during the Civil War. Organized by theater of operations instead of chronologically, there are some moments where the events of one chapter seem odd in the context of the previous chapter, but this is a minor flaw. Probably the most interesting chapter is the all-too-short discussion of CSA-USA conflicts on the high seas and around the world; it is interesting to read about the delicate dance naval officers played in ports as far away as Brazil and France. Musicant is obviously a fan of ironclads, and a great deal of the book is devoted to their use in various campaigns. He gives equal time to their successes and shortfalls.