For almost all of human history, boats were made of wood. Sure, today we've got amazing ships built from steel and composites, but people have been sailing for thousands of years, so almost every ship ...

On March 8, 1862, a large, slow-moving and unwieldy Confederate ship steamed toward the blockading Union vessels posted at Hampton Roads, outside of Virginia’s James River. The rebels made a beeline ...

The 19th century was a time of dramatic global transformation. Monarchies were falling and democracies sprang up to replace them while many remaining monarchs saw their power diluted in favor of ...

Growing up in Hawaii, Tane Casserley’s school spent about one afternoon covering the Civil War. One thing stood out from his memory of that brief history lesson: an illustration of the Union’s USS ...

The Battle of Hampton Roads / William C. Davis -- Building the ironclads / Craig L. Symonds -- Iron horse, iron coffin : life aboard the USS Monitor / David Mindell -- Sink before surrender : the ...

Let’s start by clarifying the whole “Merrimack” (alternate spelling “Merrimac,” sans the “k”) vs. “Virginia” nomenclature/semantics. This vessel ...