Existing comment:
"Battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack" by Xanthus Smith, about 1880, 1998.53
The March 1862 battle of ironclads at Hampton Roads changed naval warfare forever.
On March 8, 1862, the world's first ironclad ship, CSS Virginia, destroyed two wooden-hulled US warships at Hampton Roads. This battle revolutionized naval warfare by proving that wooden vessels were obsolete against ironclads. The next day the Union's first ironclad -- USS Monitor -- arrived and fought the Virginia to a draw. |