[Bubba Ho-Tep]

The Monitor in that one fight, obsoleted all the worlds navies with not only its armor and screw propeller, but with the innovative revolving turret that did away with the need of broadside guns.

There was a quote from a London newspaper after the battle at Hampton Roads I saw once. I don't recall it exactly, but the gist of it was "Last week we had 150 world class warships. Now we have none."

[Oatka]

The Monitor in that one fight, obsoleted all the worlds navies with not only its armor and screw propeller, but with the innovative revolving turret that did away with the need of broadside guns.
There was a quote from a London newspaper after the battle at Hampton Roads I saw once. I don't recall it exactly, but the gist of it was "Last week we had 150 world class warships. Now we have none."

They got revenge in 1906 with the HMS Dreadnought sporting new "all big gun" (12" main guns and 5" secondaries instead of a mixed 12", 8", 6" that many battleships of the day had). All other navies were immediately second-rated and became stigmatized as "pre-dreadnaughts". She set off a big arms race, which made her obsolete by 1921 and was scrapped.

"Dreadnaught" came from "Dread naught but fear in God". A U.S. Congressman opined that we ought to build a similar battleship and call her "The USS Skeered 'O Nuthin". Gotta love those early politicians.