Portal:American Civil War/Selected article/06

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Ironclad warships, frequently shortened to just ironclads, were wooden ships or ships of composite construction (wooden planking on iron frames) armored with thick iron plates. The first uses of iron for naval protection occurred in the Far East in the 16th century, but the heyday of the ironclad came in the mid-19th century, when ironclads supplanted wooden ships, and then were themselves replaced by ships made of steel.