Ironclads

The armored leviathans of the Civil War

Alex Q. Arbuckle

1861-1864

The ironclad gunboat Essex. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

In the mid-19th century, the British and French navies developed armored, steam-powered warships as a response to the rising use of explosive shells, which could burn through wooden-hulled ships. In addition to warships clad in a thin skin of iron, heavily armored floating batteries were developed.With the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Union and Confederate navies rushed to build ironclad ships to counter each other. The Confederates retrofitted the sunken hull of a scuttled Union ship with iron armor four inches thick, transforming her into a squat, low-floating fortress rechristened CSS Virginia. To counter the Virginia, the Union built the USS Monitor, an innovative if strange looking vessel with a shallow draft and central rotating gun turret. On March 9, 1862, the day after the Virginia sank two Union ships, the ironclads met in battle for the first time at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The two fought to a draw, bouncing hundreds of shots off each other’s armor over an hours-long battle. The Virginia was later destroyed to keep it out of Union hands, and the Monitor sunk in a storm off North Carolina. The Union went on to build 50 more Monitor-class ironclads, which were invaluable to combat on rivers and at sea.By the end of the war, the age of naval warfare between wooden ships was at a close.

The USS St. Louis, a City-class ironclad gunboat constructed for the Union Navy. Credit: Archive Photos/Getty Images

The deck and turret of the USS Monitor. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

The double-turreted ironclad gunboat Onondaga in the James River in Virginia. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

The Onondaga off Aikin's Landing in the James River. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Officers on the deck of a Monitor-class warship. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

The Union gunboat USS Fort Hindman in the Mississippi River. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Sailors on the deck of a Monitor-class gunboat. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Officers on the deck of a Monitor-class gunboat. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Sailors on the deck of a Monitor-class gunboat. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Union gunboats DeKalb, Mound City and Cincinnati in the Mississippi River. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

The ironclad gunboat Essex, part of the Union's Mississippi River fleet. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

The Confederate gunboat Atlanta after its capture by Union forces. Credit: E & H T Anthony/Buyenlarge/Getty Images

The gunboat LaFayette. Credit: Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Union soldiers row out to the gunboat Onondaga on the James River near RIchmond, Virginia. Credit: Archive Photos/Getty Images

The Union ironclad USS Galena has cannonballs embedded in her side after a battle with Confederate batteries on the James River. Credit: Archive Photos/Getty Images