The Naval War

Civil War Breakthroughs is a podcast that explores how the inventions, ideas, and innovations of the Civil War era defined a new kind of conflict. In our first season, The Technological War, we'll explore the technologies and concepts that brought the conflict into the modern age.On this episode, we're joined by Gordon Calhoun, a historian at the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, D.C. He talks about  the pioneering developments in naval warfare that occurred during the Civil War, from the rise of ironclads to the birth of the submarine. ©2026 by The Civil War Monitor. All rights reserved.