One of the greatest weapons of war in its time was the ironclad. Ironclads were steam powered warships protected by iron or steel plating. they were first used successfully in the mid 19th century. ironclads were designed for several roles such as: dominating sea battles, Coastal defense ships, and long range cruisers.
The idea of metal protection on ships came from the early vikings and sea raiders placing their shields on the sides of their warships to deflect arrows and rocks however this proved ineffective as a round shield with a diameter of two to three feet did not offer much protection as projectiles grew more advanced.
The first successful ironclad named Gloire was designed by the French naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme launched in 1859. The Gloire rendered obsolete the traditional unarmoured wooden ships of the line, and all major navies had no choice but to build ironclads of their own, to even the playing field so to speak. The dimensions were as follows: Length: 77.8 meters Beam: 17 meters. The Gloire was powered …show more content…
The rifle was an invention in the 1840s that changed warfare forever. It was invented by Captain Patrick Ferguson in scotland. The rifle allowed for much longer range and accuracy than could ever be achieved with a simple musket. The rifle with its breech loading system solved the problem of it sometimes minutes it could take to load a single shot into a musket. The rifle revolutionized the war industry again in 1860 when Benjamin Tyler Henry add his own idea to the basic early rifle when he added self contained metallic cartridges and later a clip to hold them. Rifles evolved throughout the rest of the 19th century eventually becoming the guns we know