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Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle that Changed History

Amazon.com Price:  $12.72 (as of 02/05/2019 03:18 PST- Details)

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Description

From acclaimed popular historian Richard Snow, who “writes with verve and a keen eye” (The New York Times Book Review), the thrilling story of the naval battle that not only changed the Civil War but the way forward for all sea power.

No single sea battle has had more far-reaching consequences than the only fought within the harbor at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in March 1862. The Confederacy, without a fleet of its own, built an iron fort containing ten heavy guns at the hull of a captured Union frigate named the Merrimack. The North got word of the project when it was once already well along, and, in desperation, commissioned an eccentric inventor named John Ericsson to build the Monitor, an entirely revolutionary iron warship—at the time, the single most complicated machine ever made. Abraham Lincoln himself was once closely involved with the ship’s design. Rushed through to completion in just 100 days, it mounted only two guns, but they were housed in a shot-proof revolving turret. The ship hurried south from Brooklyn (and nearly sank twice at the voyage), only to arrive to find the Merrimack had arrived blazing that morning, destroyed half the Union fleet, and would be back to finish the job tomorrow. When she returned, the Monitor was there. She fought the Merrimack to a standstill, and saved the Union cause. As soon as word of the battle spread, Great Britain—the foremost sea power of the day—ceased work on all wooden ships. A thousand-year-old tradition ended, and the path to the naval future opened.

Richly illustrated with photos, maps, and engravings, Iron Dawn is the impossible to resist story of these improbable, intimidating war machines. Historian Richard Snow brings to vivid life the tensions of the time, explaining how wooden and ironclad ships worked, maneuvered, battled, and sank. This full account of the Merrimack and Monitor has never been told in such immediate, compelling detail.

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