[BlueLancer]

I don't have my research material here, but I believe that you and Stand Watie may be arguing apples and oranges.

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.

[SCDogPapa]

Bump

[Non-Sequitur]

It's hard to say because I haven't found any timeline for the Virginia. I know it was commissioned on February 17, 1862, so sometime between April 1861 (when the Merrimack was burned) and February 1862 when she was commissioned the work was done. The Eads ironclads were begun in September of 1861. So if the Eads ships were first or if the Virginia was first it was only by a matter of days in either case. Fair enough?