Hampton Roads 1862: Clash of the Ironclads (Campaign) Review

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(More customer reviews)While a number of books have covered the famous engagement in March 1862 between the first ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, few have ever attempted to place this revolutionary battle in a campaign narrative that goes beyond the few hours of actual fighting. In Osprey Campaign #103, British naval aficionado Angus Konstam sets out not only to summarize the famous naval engagements of 8-9 March 1862 in Hampton Roads, but to cover the events leading up to and following the battle. While most Osprey Campaign volumes are strained to cover large campaigns in anything like meaningful detail, the limited scope of the Hampton Roads campaign is well suited for coverage in a 96-page volume. As a campaign summary, Hampton Roads 1862 is a great success, both in terms of breadth and depth.
In accordance with the standard Osprey Campaign format, Hampton Roads 1862 begins with a brief introduction and chronology, followed by sections on opposing leaders and forces. The leaders section covers the secretary of the navy, ironclad designers and vessel commanders for both the Federal and Confederate sides. In the opposing forces section, the author covers the origin and design of both the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, as well as the role of the Federal blockading squadron, the Confederate James River Squadron, the CSS Virginia's armed tugboat escorts (which are rarely mentioned in most accounts of the battle) and the army units involved in local coastal defense. Complete technical details are provided on all warships, but exact information on the Federal and Confederate army units involved is not provided. An 18-page section covers the background to the battle, including the capture of Norfolk Navy Yard in April 1861, the conversion of the ex-USS Merrimac, the construction of the USS Monitor and the Monitor's near-disastrous coast-hugging voyage to Hampton Roads. The two-day Battle of Hampton Roads is covered in 43 pages and includes much information that is often glossed over in other accounts. A brief section on aftermath covers the fate of the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor. There are a total of five 2-D maps (the Confederate seaboard in March 1862, Hampton Roads area, the Monitor's voyage to Hampton Roads, warship dispositions on 8 March 1862, operations in the Peninsula Area May 1862) and three 3-D "Birds Eye View" maps (the attack on the USS Cumberland and USS Congress, and two covering the early and later phases of the Monitor-Virginia engagement). There are also three excellent battle scenes: the final construction of the CSS Virginia, inside Monitor's turret and the Virginia's attempt to ram the Monitor).
Overall, this is an excellent Osprey Campaign title. The only obvious error was the misquote of Union casualties from the sinking of the USS Cumberland and USS Congress, when the author asserts that, "over 2,650 sailors had been killed, and almost as many were wounded." This bizarre error must be the result of poor editing, since the combined crews of both Union warships were only around 600 sailors. Actual losses from both ships totaled about 260 killed and 110 wounded. Otherwise, the author displays sound analysis of the main points of the battle as well as the oft-ignored minutiae, such as the role of the neutral French observer warship, the Confederate attempt to board the Monitor and the actions of the James River Squadron. Very well done.

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On 9 March 1862 the world's first battle between two ironclad warships took place in the confined waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The previous day the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia, impervious to her enemy's guns, had sunk two Union warships. When she re-emerged from Norfolk to complete the destruction of the Union blockading squadron the USS Monitor steamed out to meet her. The four-hour duel that ensued was a stalemate, but crucially the Virginia had failed to break the Northern blockade of the Southern ports. Nevertheless, in a single battle these two vessels rendered wooden warships obsolete and transformed the face of naval warfare forever.

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