Ironclads
The Manassas was the very first Ironclad It would tear through ships like they were made out of confetti. The Manassas could ram boats without being hurt and get shot by other boats without getting a dent. The Manassas was a confederate built ship and it was very successful because it did not sink on it’s first voyage as the Monitor did. After the confederates sunk the U.S.S Merrimac they turned it into a second ironclad called the C.S.S Virginia and that is when the Union had to make something big.
The Union had to hire a Swedish inventor named John Ericsson who produced 3 other Ironclads but the first one was the U.S.S Monitor .The U.S.S Monitor was the third armored boat in the civil war. The Monitor was made by the Union to destroy the blockades that stopped their boats from getting out to give supplies to their people in all the forts. The only thing was that in the middle of the night the Union had a abandon ship order because the ship was to heavy and sunk. Just recently the Monitor was found. It was found in 1973 and it had sunk in 1862. After the Monitor sunk there was another ironclad that sunk but it was a confederate ship again it was to heavy and sunk off the coast of Virginia.
