As this list of the USCSS Robert J. Walker shows, as an early steamer in the service of the U.S. Government, the ship served as a training platform for a number of officers eager to learn the operation of steamships at a time when there was not enough of such vessels to go around for all those with the desire to learn their operation.
Among those assigned to the Walker by the U.S. Navy was Alban C. Stimers, a 25-year-old second engineer attached to the ship on November 18, 1852. Stimers rose rapidly in naval ranks and during the Civil War served as the Chief Engineer of the U.S. Navy.
He played a major role in working with John Ericsson on the construction of the USS Monitor, and sailed with the ironclad, although not a member of the crew, on its famous voyage south in 1862 and the resulting battle with the CSS Virginia, the former USS Merrimac.
--Old B-Runner
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