Video
USS New Ironsides: Key Ships Series 1, Ship 8
Study USS New Ironsides: Key Ships Series 1, Ship 8, a Dr. Alex Clarke video from 21 Apr 2023, with 15 time notes. Topics include American Civil War, Ironclads, Naval Ship Design.
Time notes
- 1:18QuestionWould Graf Zeppelin's six-inch casemate guns make her effective against an enemy carrier at close range?AnswerQ&A
No. Heavy weather would make the low casemates difficult to use, and a British carrier would probably have capital ships, cruisers, and destroyers in company.
- 3:46QuestionWhat would have happened if HMS Warrior fought USS Monitor?AnswerQ&A
USS Monitor was too small and low in the water for the open-ocean role. USS New Ironsides was the more useful American counterpart, although Warrior was much larger and designed for worldwide service.
- 6:22A ship from the unsettled ironclad transitionNotable Point
New Ironsides dates from decades when steam power, guns, armour, and hull materials were still being combined into a workable new warship.
- 8:12Armament and armour for a coastal ironcladChapter
Fourteen 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, four 50-pounder rifles, and layered armour gave New Ironsides a powerful battery suited to coastal war.
- 9:52Three Union answers to Confederate ironcladsChapter
USS New Ironsides, Monitor, and Galena were three different Union responses to Confederate armoured ships.
- 12:21From Old Ironsides to New IronsidesNotable Point
The name joined a Civil War ironclad to USS Constitution's victory over HMS Guerriere and the older frigate's "Old Ironsides" identity.
- 13:59Speed, machinery, and the cost of performanceNotable Point
The figures for horsepower, speed, displacement, and crew show what each navy accepted to obtain the performance it needed.
- 17:27Protection and service off Morris IslandNotable Point
New Ironsides' extensive protection and a rare photograph dated, with some uncertainty, to 7 September 1863 connect her design with coastal fighting off Morris Island.
- 19:01CSS David’s spar-torpedo attackChapter
CSS David had to carry its explosive into contact range, exposing the four-man crew and their boat to the same blast.
- 20:49New Ironsides in an Anglo-American naval crisisNotable Point
A counterfactual crisis explains why the Union needed a powerful ironclad even when Britain and the United States wanted to avoid a wider war.
- 23:45Why hybrid battleship-carriers compound design riskNotable Point
The hybrid concept exposes aviation fuel and flight operations to the demands of a surface gunfight, while battleship requirements restrict the aircraft facilities.
- 25:56New Ironsides survives the CSS David attackNotable Point
New Ironsides repaired the blast damage and returned to blockade duty, while CSS David was nearly abandoned and lost two of its four crewmen to capture.
- 29:04CSS David’s later attacks and uncertain fateNotable Point
David returned to service after attacking New Ironsides, but the torpedo boat’s ultimate fate remained uncertain and attracted postwar legend.
- 30:01Sail assistance, postwar loss, and Fort Fisher honoursChapter
A full sailing rig supplemented steam power, and a postwar fire ended a ship whose Fort Fisher service brought eight Medals of Honor.
- 34:10What New Ironsides revealed about American industryChapter
Her rapid construction showed American industrial potential, while her design reflected the compromises needed for coastal war.