America’s first arms race reached a blazing conclusion on May 9, 1862, when the CSS Virginia charged its full 275 foot length of ironclad momentum toward the USS Monitor. On the shores, crowds waited for the explosive collision between the two bulwarks of the sea. The clash of these mighty military machines, destined to fight each other for the first and last time in the second year of the American Civil War, instantly brought the age of wooden naval ships to an end.

Using vivid paintings, cross-section diagrams, and technical drawings, Patrick O’Brien unfurls the story of the battle that immediately changed the course U.S. naval warfare.