The Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack occurred on March 9, 1862,. It was the first battle between ironclad warships. The Northern-built Merrimack, a conventional steam frigate, had been salvaged by the Confederates from the Norfolk navy yard. With her upper hull cut away and armored with iron, this 263-foot improvisation that resembled, according to one contemporary source, “a floating barn roof.” The ship had destroyed a fleet of wooden warships off Newport News, Virginia in the days leading up to the battle. 

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