I'm going nuts trying to find a copy I own of a short story. I think the author was D. Brin, Alan Steele or Harry Turtledove. Its about a post-apocalyptic society that mines the ruins of our world as it claws its way back. It's told in vignettes covering various time periods, with the first about a bandit/warlord re-discovering "advance" firearms, the second is about his descendant bringing WW1 style planes back, etc. Each vignette features a scientist type, with the role expanding until a formal "Bureau of Tech Reclamation" evolves. The final segment features the Starship Claude. Sad that I can recall so many details-but can't remember the author or title.
Could it be a part of an anthology? -- Quick true story -- I had read an anthology in my teen years. Loved it. Lost the book somehow. Once the 'net got big, I took all of the details I could remember and Googled all of that. Eventually, I did find it. It's called Contact. The detail it all hung on was me recalling the name of a ship, the Llanvabon. Do any of these help? http://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-201/201_djvu.txt http://hell.pl/szymon/Baen/The best...ol 1 Num 3/Jim_Baens_Universe-Vol_1_Num_3.rtf http://www.otherworldonline.org/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=80.0 This is the Google search I used for the above ^ "starship (OR "star ship") claude" AND Bureau Reclamation
Did some googling by the info you provided. Could it be "Half the Battle" by Harry Turtledove? http://turtledove.wikia.com/wiki/Half_the_Battle