The Battle of the Ironclads

Civil War History

by John V. Quarstein

Battle of the Ironclads brings to life the dramatic events which occurred in Hampton Roads on March 8 and 9, 1862. This first battle between armored vessels, often called the Monitor-Merrimack engagement, is perhaps the most significant naval event of the entire Civil War. This thrilling history is the first volume to offer a comprehensive pictorial interpretation of the men and ships that forever changed naval warfare. Over 150 images, including photographs, engravings, paintings, and sketches, have been gathered from museums, archives, and private collections to chronicle the exciting story of the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia (Merrimack). While Battle of the Ironclads is a visual history of the first battle between armored ships, it is also a saga of uncommon valor and leadership epitomized by Franklin Buchanan, George U. Morris, Samuel Dana Greene, and John Taylor Wood. The brilliant innovations of John Mercer Brooke and the farsighted inventions of John Ericsson made this
showdown in Hampton Roads a death for wooden sailing
ships. Battle of the Ironclads is indeed an epic tale that tells how steam-powered iron vessels not only influenced the Civil War, but more importantly, how the two ironclads echoed the dawn of modern navies.

Genres: History, Civil War Eastern Theater, American Civil War, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Vince]

This is a great introduction to the battle that changed naval warfare, ending the age of the dominance of wooden ships. In a mere, yet profusely illustrated 127 pages, Quarstein gets most of the major general information, politcal as well as military, leading up to, including, and the aftermath of the battle. Due to the many period photos, woodblock prints, diagrams, maps, etc., this book will serve as a nice reference to keep handy when reading books which take an even more in depth view.

[Mark]

At first I read a chapter though it didn't grab me. I put it down since I figured it would be another January slough. My reading challenges have a bad tendency to become slowed down by winter reads that have no flow. Once I sank my teeth into this book I was able to finish it in about four days. My mom discovered this in a small lending library and figured I'd like it. It's not a book it'd freely recommend to the everyday reader. This book is more one for the history inclined. There are a lot of pictures, maps, or drawings of the events that took place in 1861-1862. I've always wondered what actually happened to these ships since textbooks taught in class always just teased the most basic of facts. The author Quarstein does an admirable job of presenting the events here; there is so much more than simply "two ships shot at each other one day". The Monitor was quickly built while the Merrimack was repurposed from a sunken ship after the Union forces fled their large dry dock outside of Richmond, Virginia. Since these were the first ironclads they weren't designed for open water travel. The Merrimack damaged several Union ships on its' first run on the water causing a lot of concern within Union ranks. Carnage amongst the Northern troops was brutal. When the two ships finally had their climatic fight they didn't disappoint. It was a vicious hours long battle, sometimes at point blank range. Ultimately, the Union won a Pyrrhic victory as they prevented the Confederate ship from escaping the harbor and going North. The ships didn't meet again like that. In the ensuing weeks, the Rebs fled farther South while abandoning the dry dock. They even had to blow up the Merrimack to prevent it being captured. The Monitor sunk while trying to travel on open water. These ships influence is enormous. Modern navies are modeled after their design. Neither failed in battle. The events are laid out succinctly here in this book. Solid read.

[Sean]

Pretty good description of the battle and subsequent lives of the Merrimack and Monitor Ironclads. Both ships were the first of their kind (for their respective sides) and fought each other to a draw in their only battle. This book is pretty engagingly told, and has a wealth of photos, paintings and illustrations pertaining to the ships and the people that crewed them, as well as some interesting maps.

[Jimmy]

This isn't a horrendously bad book; however, it doesn't go into a lot of detail. The few maps in the book are actually period illustrations. At times, it seems to be more like a photo album with some short captions rather than an actual book.