Naval History Shows Dangers of Rushed Innovation

Innovation should be purposeful, not whimsical. That’s the message from Naval History and Heritage Command historian Tyler Pitrof’s book Too Far on a Whim: The Limits of High-Steam Propulsion in the U.S. Navy, new in print out of the nautical climes of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It hooked me because it promised to take me back to those thrilling days of yesteryear when I was a twentysomething engineer overseeing a high-pressure (600 PSI), high-temperature (850o F) steam propulsion plant of the type whose history Pitfrof chronicles. His book looked like an education on part of my own heritage.