Hampton Roads 1862: Clash of the Ironclads (Campaign) [Paperback]

Angus Konstam (Author), Adam Hook (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2002 | Series: Campaign (Book 103)

This Osprey title examnies the first naval conflict of the American Civil War (1861-1865). On 9 March 1862 the world's first battle between two ironclad warships took place in the confined waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The previous day the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia, impervious to her enemy's guns, had sunk two Union warships. When she re-emerged from Norfolk to complete the destruction of the Union blockading squadron the USS Monitor steamed out to meet her. The four-hour duel that ensued was a stalemate, but crucially the Virginia had failed to break the Northern blockade of the Southern ports. Nevertheless, in a single battle these two vessels rendered wooden warships obsolete and transformed the face of naval warfare forever.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly visual guides to history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics, and experiences of the opposing forces throughout each campaign, and concluding with a guide to the battlefields today.

About the Author

Angus Konstam is an experienced Osprey author with over 10 titles in print. He has long been associated with the sea, having served in the Royal Navy, practised underwater archaeology and curated a maritime museum. His understanding of the subject is based on years of study of maritime history, and intimate knowledge of the leading maritime museums on both sides of the Atlantic.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (April 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841764108
• ISBN-13: 978-1841764108
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,950,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With over 50 history books in print, Angus is a widely recognised and much-published historian. While he specialises in military and naval history he has also written numerous more general history books, designed to make the subject more accessible to a wider audience. Uniquely he has been able to draw on his expertise as a senior museum curator who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as on his academic training as a historian and as a maritime archaeologist.

His latest book is a full-length biography: Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate, which is published by Wiley & Sons. of New York (June 2006)

Angus is also just finished writing a history of the Allied landings at Salerno in September 1943 for the British publisher Pen & Sword, and he is currently working on a new project, with the working title of Supership: The Quest for the Renaissance Battleship.

Angus lives in Edinburgh, in Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Campaign Summary, May 7, 2002

By 

R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hampton Roads 1862: Clash of the Ironclads (Campaign) (Paperback)

While a number of books have covered the famous engagement in March 1862 between the first ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, few have ever attempted to place this revolutionary battle in a campaign narrative that goes beyond the few hours of actual fighting. In Osprey Campaign #103, British naval aficionado Angus Konstam sets out not only to summarize the famous naval engagements of 8-9 March 1862 in Hampton Roads, but to cover the events leading up to and following the battle. While most Osprey Campaign volumes are strained to cover large campaigns in anything like meaningful detail, the limited scope of the Hampton Roads campaign is well suited for coverage in a 96-page volume. As a campaign summary, Hampton Roads 1862 is a great success, both in terms of breadth and depth.

In accordance with the standard Osprey Campaign format, Hampton Roads 1862 begins with a brief introduction and chronology, followed by sections on opposing leaders and forces. The leaders section covers the secretary of the navy, ironclad designers and vessel commanders for both the Federal and Confederate sides. In the opposing forces section, the author covers the origin and design of both the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, as well as the role of the Federal blockading squadron, the Confederate James River Squadron, the CSS Virginia's armed tugboat escorts (which are rarely mentioned in most accounts of the battle) and the army units involved in local coastal defense. Complete technical details are provided on all warships, but exact information on the Federal and Confederate army units involved is not provided. An 18-page section covers the background to the battle, including the capture of Norfolk Navy Yard in April 1861, the conversion of the ex-USS Merrimac, the construction of the USS Monitor and the Monitor's near-disastrous coast-hugging voyage to Hampton Roads. The two-day Battle of Hampton Roads is covered in 43 pages and includes much information that is often glossed over in other accounts. A brief section on aftermath covers the fate of the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor. There are a total of five 2-D maps (the Confederate seaboard in March 1862, Hampton Roads area, the Monitor's voyage to Hampton Roads, warship dispositions on 8 March 1862, operations in the Peninsula Area May 1862) and three 3-D "Birds Eye View" maps (the attack on the USS Cumberland and USS Congress, and two covering the early and later phases of the Monitor-Virginia engagement). There are also three excellent battle scenes: the final construction of the CSS Virginia, inside Monitor's turret and the Virginia's attempt to ram the Monitor).

Overall, this is an excellent Osprey Campaign title. The only obvious error was the misquote of Union casualties from the sinking of the USS Cumberland and USS Congress, when the author asserts that, "over 2,650 sailors had been killed, and almost as many were wounded." This bizarre error must be the result of poor editing, since the combined crews of both Union warships were only around 600 sailors. Actual losses from both ships totaled about 260 killed and 110 wounded. Otherwise, the author displays sound analysis of the main points of the battle as well as the oft-ignored minutiae, such as the role of the neutral French observer warship, the Confederate attempt to board the Monitor and the actions of the James River Squadron. Very well done.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a novel...ette, October 24, 2004

By 

M. Motamedi "alexponnaz" (AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hampton Roads 1862: Clash of the Ironclads (Campaign) (Paperback)

Hampton Roads 1862: The First Clash of the Ironclads is one of Osprey's finest Campaign books. Firstly, it covers a topic that can easily and readily fit into the 96-page Osprey format. Secondly, the author Angus Konstam is just a damn good writer!

Unlike many other authors for Osprey, Konstam isn't tied up with naming useless movements of ships in a dry fashion, rather, he presents this book like a story. Descriptive and storylike, he tells of how the crew of the USS Congress was grinded like meat against the relentless heated shot of the CSS Virginia, the elation of the USS Cumberland when they believed they where taking down the Virgina with them, the silent, desperate crowds of Confederate onlookers at the departure of the Virginia from Norfolk, as well as using many eyewitness accounts to portray the seeming invincibility of the Ironclads against simple cannonfire.

Everything in the book is easy to understand very enjoyable to read, as well as teaching you nifty facts about early Ironclads. My only complaint is the seeminly extreme numbers of casualties on the Union side at the end of the first day, seemingly a typo. All in all, Hampton Roads 1862 is definetley one of Osprey's strongest Campaign books (right behind Lepanto 1571, also by Konstam).

5.0 out of 5 stars Nicely written, June 15, 2006

By 

Michael N. Ryan (Bel AIr, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hampton Roads 1862: Clash of the Ironclads (Campaign) (Paperback)

Very informative. Provides basic background and a good description of the battle. Nicely written and well illustrated. A good source of information for anyone seeking a basic amount of information on this tehcnologically significant battle.