The South made plans to construct forty ironclads to act in defense of Southern ports. They were able to build twenty such ships, and they were fit to guard Southern ports but not able to be seaworthy due to their size and shallow drafts.
The Confederate Congress had authorized $3 million for the purchase of warships, two of the three million was allocated for ironclads. Confederate Naval secretary Stephen Mallory sent Lieutenant James North to Europe to try and buy an ironclad much like the French class of ironclads of the Gloire Class that France built in 1858. North did not succeed so Mallory decided to build ironclads in the South.
Secretary of the Confederate Navy, Stephen Mallory wanted to have ocean going ironclads, however, despite all his efforts, he was unable to build or purchase that type of warship. The most advanced warships at that point in time were the British and French warships named the HMS Warrior and the French Gloire.
Ironclad warships that were used against each side were significant in the world of naval warfare. It made wooden warships and cargo ships easy targets for ironclad ships of war.
On 12 October 1861, the CSS Manassas became the first ironclad to enter battle, when she fought Union warships on the Mississippi. She was converted from a commercial vessel in New Orleans for river and coastal fighting. In February 1862, the larger CSS Virginia joined the Confederate Navy, having been built at Norfolk. By this time the Union had completed seven ironclad gunboats of the City class, and was about to complete the USS Monitor, an innovative design proposed by the Swedish inventor John Ericsson. The Union was also building a large armored frigate, the USS New Ironsides, and the smaller USS Galena. The first battle between ironclads happened on 9 March 1862, as the armored raft Monitor was deployed to protect the Union's wooden fleet from the ironclad battery Virginia and other Confederate warships. In this engagement, named the Battle of Hampton Roads, the two ironclads repeatedly tried to ram one another while shells bounced off their armor. The battle attracted attention worldwide, making it clear that the wooden warship was now out of date with the ironclads destroying them easily.
Confederate Secretary of the navy sent Lieutenant sent James North to buy a ship of the Gloire class. This was an innovative French ironclad that was put into service in 1858.
The Merrimac was an an iron-clad vessel built by the Confederate forces. Ironclads are wooden warships protected from gunfire by iron armor (mid-19th-century).
These ships were called ironclads.
The Confederate Congress had authorized $3 million for the purchase of warships, two of the three million was allocated for ironclads. Confederate Naval secretary Stephen Mallory sent Lieutenant James North to Europe to try and buy an ironclad much like the French class of ironclads of the Gloire Class that France built in 1858. North did not succeed so Mallory decided to build ironclads in the South.
Secretary of the Confederate Navy, Stephen Mallory wanted to have ocean going ironclads, however, despite all his efforts, he was unable to build or purchase that type of warship. The most advanced warships at that point in time were the British and French warships named the HMS Warrior and the French Gloire.
the era of wooden warships was at an end
Ironclads
Confederate President Jefferson Davis was asked by the Confederate Congress what he believed were important military requirements. Davis wanted to increase the South's military forces by 300,000 troops and have fifty ironclads for harbor and river defense. He also wanted at least ten new raider warships to protect Confederate overseas commerce.
Ironclads ;)
Ironclad warships that were used against each side were significant in the world of naval warfare. It made wooden warships and cargo ships easy targets for ironclad ships of war.
The battle between the two ironclad warships, USS Monitor (first United States ironclad warship) and CSS Virginia (previously the USS Merrimack and first Confederate States ironclad warship) was significant because it was the first battle in the world where ironclad warships dueled together. The two warships were not the first ironclad warships in the world to be built, but they were the first ironclads to engage in combat against each other.
The advent of the ironclads signed the unrestrainable decline of the wooden warships.
Because the country was in the middle of a war and ironclads preformed better than wooded ships so they started to become traditional