Confident in our strength and resources, we had long remained
comparatively sluggish, and regardless of those interesting experiments
which other great maritime powers had been carefully making with a view
to render ships invulnerable. We looked on quietly, observed the
results, and waited for the occasion when we should be required to put
forth our strength in this direction. When the war commenced, we had not
a single iron-clad vessel of any description. It became necessary that
the immense Southern coast of our country should be subjected to the
strictest blockade. This was a work of vast magnitude, and a very large
and sudden increase of the navy was demanded by the extraordinary
emergency. Cities were to be taken, and strong fortresses to be
attacked. The rebels had managed to save some of the vessels intended to
be destroyed at Norfolk, and had converted the Merrimack into a
formidable monster, which in due time displayed her destructive powers
upon our unfortunate fleet in Hampton Roads, in that ever-memorable
contest in which the Monitor first made her timely appearance. The chief
result of the vast effort demanded by the perilous situation of our
country, was the class of vessels of which the partially successful but
ill-fated Monitor was the type. These structures are certainly very far
from being perfect as ships of war; nevertheless, they constitute an
interesting and valuable experiment, and mark an advance in naval
warfare of the very first importance. They establish the form in which
defensive armor may perhaps be most effectively disposed for the
protection of men on board ships; but at the same time, it must be
conceded that they utterly fail in all the other requisites for
men-of-war and sea-going vessels. They are deficient in buoyancy and
speed. In truth they are nothing more than floating batteries, useful in
the defence of harbors or the attack of forts. The melancholy end of the
Monitor shows too plainly that vessels of her character cannot be safely
trusted to the fury of the open sea. They may do well in favorable
weather, or may escape on a single expedition; but a repetition of long
voyages will be almost certain to result in their loss.

We want lighter and swifter vessels to be equally formidable in
ordnance, and alike invulnerable to the attacks of any adversary. To
combine all these requisites is not beyond the ingenuity of American
constructors. Most assuredly such vessels will soon make