abstract
| - CSS Virginia was a steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy during the War of Southron Independence, built as floating battery using the remains of the scuttled USS Merrimack in 1862. She was one of the participants in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862 opposite the USS Monitor. The battle is chiefly significant in naval history as the first battle between two ironclads. Ironclads were only a recent innovation, starting with the 1854 steam-powered ironclad battery Lave, which was designed for coastal warfare and had a speed of 4 knots (7.4 kph), with a crew of 282 men. Throughout the war, the Confederacy built many ironclad steam-powered batteries, and like the CSS Virginia, they were not designed to be ocean cruisers. Due to the success of the CSS Virginia, the CS Navy procured turreted ironclad cruisers, and succeeded in gaining multiple cruisers, mostly due to the alliance signed with the United Kingdom.
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