[The Battle of Hampton Roads]

U.S.S. Monitor vs. C.S.S. Virginia

March 9, 1862

A titanic showdown between the first two "ironclads", iron naval vessels that would change the face of naval history and make wooden vessels a thing of the past. Confederate soldiers on the ground and Union soldiers on water watched the two ironclads circle and fire and ram one another until the Virginia retired into the relative safety of a Confederate-controlled harbor. The battle was called a draw, though the Monitor claimed victory since it protected wooden Union ships from being sunk to the bottom.