The CSS Virginia and USS Monitor were not the first ironclad warships, but they were the first ironclads to battle against one another

Ironclad battleships predated The Virginia and the Monitor. La Glorie, the first ironclad warship, was launched by the French navy in November 1859. In response to the new French warship, the Royal Navy had launched the iron-hulled frigate HMS Warrior in October of 1861.

Two ironclad ships, the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia, engage in one of the most well-known naval confrontations in American history on March 9, 1862, outside Hampton Roads, Virginia, and manage to draw it out. The Virginia and the Monitor engaged in combat for four hours on March 9 in the morning. The ships maneuvered around one another, vying for position as they exchanged gunfire. The iron ships just deflected the cannon balls. The Virginia returned to Norfolk in the early afternoon. Despite the fact that neither ship sustained significant damage, the Monitor successfully put a stop to the Union navy's brief period of dread at the hands of the Confederate ironclad.