Battles & Wars › Industrial wars › American Civil War
Ironclad warships (Gloire, USS Monitor)
Gloire 1859; Monitor vs. Virginia, March 9, 1862· Invention or discovery· Weapons, armor & warships
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Steam warships protected by iron armor, which made wooden sailing warships obsolete within a few years.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Explosive shells, fired by new naval guns from the 1820s on, could set wooden ships ablaze; at Sinop in 1853 Russian shells wrecked an Ottoman squadron. In 1855 French armored floating batteries shrugged off Russian fire at Kinburn. France then launched Gloire (1859), a wooden ship clad in iron, and Britain answered with the iron-hulled HMS Warrior (1860). In America the Confederacy armored the hull of USS Merrimack as CSS Virginia, and the Union built John Ericsson's turreted USS Monitor.
Why it matters
Within a decade every major navy rebuilt around armor, steam and turrets, setting off the naval arms races that led to the dreadnought battleships of World War I.
How we know
Navy records and plans. HMS Warrior survives at Portsmouth, and the Monitor's turret, raised from its wreck in 2002, is at the Mariners' Museum in Virginia.
Still debated
Which ship deserves the title 'first ironclad' depends on definitions, from Korean turtle ships to French floating batteries.
Inside this (2)
Connections (4)
▸Battle of Hampton Roads (Monitor vs. Virginia) was the first battle between Ironclad warships (Gloire, USS Monitor)Well documented
The connection
Ironclads had fought forts, but never each other. At Hampton Roads two armored ships pounded each other at close range for hours with little effect, after the Virginia had shown the day before how easily armor beat wooden ships. Navies took two lessons: armor worked, and the Monitor's revolving turret was the future.
When and how
Hampton Roads, Virginia, March 9, 1862; Lieutenant John Worden's USS Monitor against CSS Virginia, commanded that day by Lieutenant Catesby Jones.
How we know
Eyewitness accounts and damage reports show neither ship was seriously hurt; the turret's influence on later warships is documented.
Debates and open questions
Some argue the lessons were overlearned: low-sided monitors proved poor at sea, and the Monitor itself sank in a storm that December.
▸Korean turtle ship (geobukseon) is sometimes called the first of the Ironclad warships (Gloire, USS Monitor)Debated
The connection
Admiral Yi Sun-sin's turtle ships of 1592 had a covered, spiked roof that kept Japanese boarders off, so some writers call them the first ironclads. But no records clearly show iron plate armor, and they did not lead to Gloire or Monitor. The two were separate answers to the same problem: protecting a warship and its crew.
When and how
Korea's southern coast, 1592–98, during the Japanese invasions; ironclads in France, Britain and America, 1855–62.
How sure are we?
Korean records, including Yi's war diary and reports, describe the roof and spikes; whether it was iron-plated is uncertain.
Debates and open questions
Whether turtle ships carried iron plates, and how many were built, are debated; calling them 'first ironclads' depends partly on definitions.
▸Ironclad warships (Gloire, USS Monitor) made obsolete the wooden Galleons and ships of the lineWell documented
The connection
Ships of the line ruled sea warfare from the 1650s. But shells could set wooden hulls on fire, and iron armor stopped the shot these ships fired. Once France and Britain launched Gloire and Warrior in 1859–60, construction of wooden battleships stopped; within a decade the old three-deckers were laid up, sold or made training ships.
When and how
France and Britain, 1859–1860s; the last wooden ships of the line were completed in the early 1860s.
How we know
Navy construction records show the switch; HMS Victory and HMS Warrior both survive in Portsmouth's historic dockyard.
Debates and open questions
Historians debate whether shells, armor or steam engines did most to end the wooden warship, since all three arrived within about twenty years.
▸Ironclad warships (Gloire, USS Monitor) led to steel battleships like HMS Dreadnought and the naval arms raceWell documented
The connection
Early ironclads led to steel hulls, turrets and ever bigger guns over the next 40 years, with designs changing so fast that ships were outdated within years. Dreadnought in 1906 was the climax: a steel, turbine-driven battleship with ten big guns, which made all earlier battleships second-rate and started a new arms race.
When and how
Britain, France and other navies, 1860–1906; HMS Dreadnought was built at Portsmouth in about a year, 1905–06.
How we know
Ship designs and naval budgets show a continuous line of development, documented in navy archives and Parliament's debates.
Debates and open questions
Whether Dreadnought was a leap or a step others were about to take is debated: the US and Japan had similar designs under way.