How Did The Confederate And Union Change Their Opinions On Ironclads

The Iron Wave: Why Confederate and Union Navies Changed Their Opinions on Ironclads The creation of the ironclad sparked a major transition in naval warfare from wooden ships to iron ships. On paper, ironclads had the chance to become the next generation of naval fleets due to their iron armor being much stronger than wooden ships, alongside the development of new weapons such as the torpedo and the naval ram. However, the Navy’s opinion of ironclads changed from optimistic to pessimistic only a decade after its creation because they were limited to river warfare instead of sea warfare. The iron and other materials that made up the ironclads quickly showed signs of wearing down quicker than wooden ships, while also being more expensive to replace. The
Once the ironclads were finally built and able to be used in the war, many problems with the ship’s production began to appear. The Confederacy, still suffering from the time lost waiting on their deal with Europe, rushed their production of ironclads which resulted in deficient machinery and haphazard design; the Confederacy’s domestically built ironclads were generally not seaworthy enough to operate in coastal waters, much less on “blue water.” The Confederates had originally hoped that the ironclad would be able to defend its coastline from a blockade and also be able to defend forts alongside their rivers, however, the rush in production caused a lackluster The ironclad’s problems soon began to plague the Union as well. The question of who would command and use the ironclads became problematic after no true consensus was created. The crews that arrived consisted of landsmen, steamboat hands, soldiers, and