Ironclad warship
An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in November 1859, narrowly preempting the British Royal Navy. However, Britain built the first completely iron-hulled warships.
"Ironclad" and "Broadside ironclad" redirect here. For other uses, see Ironclad (disambiguation).
They were first used in warfare in 1862 during the American Civil War, when ironclads operated against wooden ships and, in a historic confrontation, against each other at the Battle of Hampton Roads in Virginia. Their performance demonstrated that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored ship of the line as the most powerful warship afloat. Ironclad gunboats became very successful in the American Civil War.
Ironclads were designed for several uses, including as high-seas battleships, long-range cruisers, and coastal defense ships. Rapid development of warship design in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled vessel that carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built, turreted battleships, and cruisers familiar in the 20th century. This change was pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns, more sophisticated steam engines, and advances in ferrous metallurgy that made steel shipbuilding possible.
The quick pace of change meant that many ships were obsolete almost as soon as they were finished and that naval tactics were in a state of flux. Many ironclads were built to make use of the naval ram, the torpedo, or sometimes both (as in the case with smaller ships and later torpedo boats), which several naval designers considered the important weapons of naval combat. There is no clear end to the ironclad period, but toward the end of the 1890s, the term ironclad dropped out of use. New ships were increasingly constructed to a standard pattern and designated as battleships or armored cruisers.
Parts of have been recovered and are being conserved and displayed at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.
USS Monitor
is berthed at the port of Talcahuano, Chile, on display for visitors.
Huáscar
in Newport News constructed a full-scale replica of USS Monitor. The replica was laid down in February 2005 and completed just two months later.[85]
Northrop Grumman
The Dutch Ramtorenschip (coastal ram) is currently under display in the Maritime Museum Rotterdam.
HNLMS Buffel
The complete, recovered wooden hull of , a casemate ram ironclad, is on view in Kinston, North Carolina, and, in another part of town on the Neuse River, the recreated ship, named CSS Neuse II, is nearly built and can be visited.
CSS Neuse
The hull of the casemate ironclad can be seen in the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia.
CSS Jackson
A replica of the was rebuilt in 2003 as a floating museum at Weihai.
Chinese ironclad Dingyuan
built 1867, has been partially sunk as a breakwater in Victoria, Australia, but is not preserved and is deteriorating in the elements.
HMVS Cerberus
List of ironclads
Archibald, E.H.H. (1984). The Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy 1897–1984. Blandford. 0-7137-1348-8.
ISBN
(1980). The Black Battlefleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-924-3.
Ballard, G. A.
(2001) [1933]. The Introduction of the Ironclad Warship. Classics of Naval Literature. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-218-8.
Baxter, James Phinney III
Beeler, John (2003). Birth of the Battleship: British Capital Ship Design 1870–1881. London: Caxton. 1-84067-534-9. OCLC 52358324.
ISBN
Brook, Peter; Beasecker, Robert; Lee, Anthony J. & Millar, Steve (2001). "Question 39/00: British Bombardment of Alexandria". Warship International. XXXVIII (4): 331–332. 0043-0374.
ISSN
(2015). Before the Ironclad: Warship Design and Development 1815–1860. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-605-6.
Brown, David K.
Brown, David K. (1992). "The Era of Uncertainty". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 75–94. 1-55750-774-0.
ISBN
Brown, David K. (1997). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development, 1860–1905. London: Chatham Publishing. 1-86176-022-1.
ISBN
Campbell, John (1992). "Naval Armaments and Armour". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 158–169. 1-55750-774-0.
ISBN
Canney, Donald L. (2015). The Confederate Steam Navy 1861–1865. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing. 978-0-7643-4824-2.
ISBN
Canney, Donald L. (1993). The Old Steam Navy. Vol. 2: The Ironclads, 1842–1885. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 0-87021-586-8.
ISBN
Fuller, Howard J. (2008). Clad in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Security International. 0-313-34590-2. OCLC 171549041.
ISBN
Fuller, Howard J. (2020). Turret Versus Broadside: An Anatomy of British Naval Prestige, Revolution and Disaster 1860–1870. Wolverhampton Military Studies. Warwick, UK: Helion. 978-1-913336-22-6.
ISBN
Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro (1998). Ironclads at War: The Origin and Development of the Armored Warship, 1854–1891. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: Combined Publishing. 0-938289-58-6.
ISBN
Griffiths, Denis (1992). "Warship Machinery". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 170–178. 1-55750-774-0.
ISBN
(2000). War at Sea in the Ironclad age. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-35273-X.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Hill, J. Richard, Rear Admiral
Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. 0-87021-893-X.
ISBN
(1985). The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery. Houndmills, UK: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-35094-4.
Kennedy, Paul M.
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Roger Chesneau, Eugène M. Koleśnik, N. J. M. Campbell (1st American ed.). New York: Mayflower Books. 1979. 0-8317-0302-4. OCLC 4775646.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
ISBN
(1984). Battleships in Transition: The Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815–1860. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-315-X.
Lambert, Andrew
Lambert, Andrew (1992). "Iron Hulls and Armour Plate". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 47–60. 1-55750-774-0.
ISBN
Lambert, Andrew (1992). "The Screw Propeller Warship". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 30–46. 1-55750-774-0.
ISBN
Langensiepen, Bernd & Güleryüz, Ahmet (1995). The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828–1923. London: Conway Maritime Press. 978-0-85177-610-1.
ISBN
Northrop Grumman Newport News, . Retrieved 2007-05-21.
Northrop Grumman Employees Reconstruct History with USS Monitor Replica
(1990) [1957]. British Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
Parkes, Oscar
Quarstein, John V. (2006). A History of Ironclads: The Power of Iron Over Wood. Charleston, South Carolina: History Press. 978-1-59629-118-8.
ISBN
(1869). Our Ironclad Ships, their Qualities, Performance and Cost. John Murray.
Reed, Edward J.
Roberts, John (1992). "Warships of Steel 1879–1889". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 95–111. 1-55750-774-0.
ISBN
Roberts, Stephen (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth. 978-1-5267-4533-0.
ISBN
Sandler, Stanley (2004). Battleships: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. ABC-CLIO. 1-8510-9410-5.
ISBN
Sandler, Stanley (1979). Emergence of the Modern Capital Ship. Newark, Delaware: Associated University Presses. 0-87413-119-7. OCLC 4498820.
ISBN
Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. 0-88254-979-0.
ISBN
(1992). "The American Civil War". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 61–74. ISBN 1-55750-774-0.
Still, William N.
Wilson, H. W. (1995) [1926]. Battleships in Action. Vol. 1. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 1-55750-061-4.
ISBN
Winfield, Rif & Lyon, David (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.