Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad: Hampton Roads 1862

Osprey Duel #14

by Ron Field, Howard Gerrard (Illustrator), Peter Bull (Illustrator)

The Ironclad was a revolutionary weapon of war. Although iron was used for protection in the Far East during the 16th century, it was the 19th century and the American Civil War that heralded the first modern armored self-propelled warships. With the parallel pressures of civil war and the industrial revolution, technology advanced at a breakneck speed. It was the South who first utilized ironclads as they attempted to protect their ports from the Northern blockade. Impressed with their superior resistance to fire and their ability to ram vulnerable wooden ships, the North began to develop its own rival fleet of ironclads. Eventually these two products of this first modern arms race dueled at the battle of Hampton Roads in a clash that would change the face of naval warfare.

Fully illustrated with cutting-edge digital artwork, rare photographs and first-person perspective gun sight views, this book allows the reader to discover the revolutionary and radically different designs of the two rival Ironclads - the CSS Virginia and USS Monitor - through an analysis of each ship's weaponry, ammunition and steerage. Compare the contrasting training of the crews and re-live the horrors of the battle at sea in a war which split a nation, communities and even families.

Genres: American Civil War, Military History, History

80 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2008

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice history book with tons of rare pics. Nice read. Recommended

[Alfredo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I guess that inclusion of this non-event into Osprey's 'Duel' series was inevitable. After all, the entire affair is as close to a real duel as one can come when it comes to military history. At the same time, I must admit that every time I bump Merrimac vs Monitor episode, I can't help but think 'Why even bother'. In this little volume, the author tries his best to make the most of their inconclusive clash, but unfortunaltely he fails to dispell my blasé sentiment about this non-event.

Contentwise, about half of its space is dedicated to technical aspects of opposing vessels. This is necessary, because (for obvious reasons) there is precious little to write about history of the 'duel' itself. The four hours long engagement requires about as many pages to be covered in detail- they met, they hammered each other, they failed to do any damage and they separated once their crews realized the futility of the excercise. Remainder of the booklet provides a short overview of further development of ironclads on both sides over next four years.

I'm sure this volume will be of interest to people interested in naval warfare of American Civil War. Personally, for some inexplicable reason, I always found the naval part of this conflict utterly dull and a little rudiculous. I'm afraid this little volume failed to change my opinion.

[Wolfgang Schwerdt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obwohl die ersten Panzerschiffe in Europa gebaut worden waren, hatte kaum ein Ereignis die Entwicklung des Seekrieges so verändert, wie das Duell des konföderierten Kasemattpanzerschiffes „Virginia“ mit dem Turmpanzerschiff „Monitor“ der Nordstaaten im amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg.
In „Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad“ schildert Ron Field den ganzen historischen Prozess, der 1862 zu dem denkwürdigen Duell in Hampton Roads geführt hatte. Eine Chronologie der relaventen Ereignisse, detaillierte Beschreibungen von Konstruktion und Entstehung der beiden Kontrahenten, eine Auflistung sämtlicher amerikanischer Panzerschiffsklassen des Bürgerkriegs, eine Fülle technischer Details und nicht zuletzt militärgeschichtlich strategische Bewertungen machen das Buch zu einer echten Fundgrube. Natürlich darf man nicht die bei Osprey üblichen hervorragenden Illustrationen, 3D- Schnitte und Detailansichten vergessen, die diesmal von Howard Gerrard, Peter Bull und Tony Bryan erstellt worden sind.

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[Josh Liller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid if incredibly short book. I was surprised to learn of the significance of the nature of the ammunition and gunpowder charges on both ships which were largely responsible for the battle being a draw with no significant damage to either ship. I had never heard of this before.