#25: CSS Virginia: The Ironclad That Made Wooden Navies Obsolete
On March 8, 1862, CSS Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads and destroyed two Union warships, USS Cumberland and USS Congress, without suffering any meaningful damage from their combined gunfire. Cannonballs bounced off her sloped iron casemate like hailstones. In a single afternoon, she rendered every wooden warship in every navy on Earth obsolete.
Built on the salvaged hull of the scuttled frigate USS Merrimack, Virginia carried ten guns behind four inches of iron armor backed by two feet of wood. The next day, she returned to finish off the Union fleet and was met by the USS Monitor, setting up the first battle between ironclad warships. The resulting duel changed naval warfare forever, proving that the age of wooden sailing ships was over. Virginia's four hours of rampage on March 8 may represent the single most consequential afternoon in naval military history, instantly making the world's largest fleets strategically worthless.
