Check your timeline there, sw. Wait, I know that you hate it when I say that. Sorry.
The first armored warship was actually the river gunboats built by Simon Eads from a design by Samuel M. Pook. Four ironclads, the USS Essex, USS Cincinnati, USS Carondelet, and USS St. Louis, were involved in the capture of Fort Donaldson a couple of months before the Monitor and the Merrimack fought.
the book A PICTORAL HISTORY OF NAVAL WARFARE says the Virginia was FIRST.
as you can tell, i'm not an expert on ships.
free dixie,sw
If my memory serves, I think he's right in saying that the VIRGINIA was the first vessel on which armoured construction was initiated.
You are correct in noting that the Eads ironclads were the first in battle, but I believe that their construction began well after construction on the VIRGINIA commenced. Again, if my memory serves, their construction was done very quickly (along the lines of the speed of construction of the MONITOR) and they were afloat and in battle before the VIRGINIA. Again, though, I believe that their actual construction occurred after VIRGINIA's.
perhaps that's the cause of the confusion???
free dixie,sw