I wrote:
> Steel hull construction was heavily subsidized by governments mainly for > navy vessels, or ironclads as they were called. The U.S. Navy built the > first modern steam-powered steel warship, the Monitor, during the Civil War. > The British and French built ironclad steamships in 1959 before the U.S. did, but they were designed more like traditional sailing ships than the Monitor. See the Warrior ironclad, preserved as a museum at Portsmouth: http://www.hmswarrior.org/ The Monitor was more modern in many ways. - Jed
