An
ironclad is a
steam-propelled warship protected by
iron or
steel armor plates used in the early part of the second half of the 19th century. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary
shells. The first ironclad battleship, , was launched by the
French Navy in November 1859. The British
Admiralty had been considering armored warships since 1856 and prepared a draft design for an armored
corvette in 1857; in early 1859 the
Royal Navy started building two iron-hulled armored frigates, and by 1861 had made the decision to move to an all-armored battle fleet. After the
first clashes of ironclads (both with wooden ships and with one another) took place in 1862 during the
American Civil War, it became clear that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored
ship of the line as the most powerful warship afloat. This type of ship would come to be very successful in the American Civil War.