“Full of dramatic
incidents... Carter brings events to life
with clear explanations and
lively details.”--Booklist
In the spring of 1862, two strange vessels battled on the waters of
Hampton Roads, Virginia. On the shores spectators watched as the
C.S.S. Virginia (known
popularly as the Merrimack)
slugged it out with the U.S.S. Monitor
in the first battle of ironclad warships. Both ships would
survive the fight, neither would be afloat a year later. Yet, the
thunderous clash on this sunny March morning would change world
history.
From the final chapter: “The first battle between ironclads marked the
triumph of the Industrial Revolution. The proud wooden navies--and all
the centuries of tradition, craftsmanship, and romance they
represented--had been swept away by a pair of chugging, smoke-spewing
iron monsters. For better or worse, the world turned from the past to
measure its future in terms of progress, science, and iron-hard
practicality.”
