Hampton Roads did not invent the armoured ship, but it made existing problems impossible to ignore. Virginia was devastating against unarmoured opponents, while both ironclads were constrained by speed, steering, inexperienced crews, and their inability to penetrate one another decisively. Monitor's low freeboard also exposed the seagoing limitations of a form well suited to harbour defence and bombardment. For the Royal Navy, increasingly heavy armour-piercing guns could no longer remain in a traditional broadside, which made the turret's flexible firing arc attractive.
Chapter · 20:40-24:43
Hampton Roads and the case for turrets
Monitor and Virginia revealed both the resilience of armour and the need to concentrate heavy guns in workable arcs of fire.