Hampton Roads 1862: First Clash of the Ironclads

PDF | 96 pages | 45 Mb 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. Hampton Roads 1862: The First Clash of the Ironclads is one of Osprey's finest Campaign books. Firstly, it covers a topic that can easily and readily fit into the 96-page Osprey format. Secondly, the author Angus Konstam is just a damn good writer! Unlike many other authors for Osprey, Konstam isn't tied up with naming useless movements of ships in a dry fashion, rather, he presents this book like a story. Descriptive and storylike, he tells of how the crew of the USS Congress was grinded like meat against the relentless heated shot of the CSS Virginia, the elation of the USS Cumberland when they believed they where taking down the Virgina with them, the silent, desperate crowds of Confederate onlookers at the departure of the Virginia from Norfolk, as well as using many eyewitness accounts to portray the seeming invincibility of the Ironclads against simple cannonfire. Everything in the book is easy to understand very enjoyable to read, as well as teaching you nifty facts about early Ironclads. My only complaint is the seeminly extreme numbers of casualties on the Union side at the end of the first day, seemingly a typo. All in all, Hampton Roads 1862 is definetley one of Osprey's strongest Campaign books (right behind Lepanto 1571, also by Konstam). Links : Quote:http://rapidshare.com/files/103061705/www.softarchive.net_Hampton_Roads_1862._First_clash_of_the_Ironclads.pdf