The spectacular battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack marked the debut of ironclads, a revolution in naval warfare. Ships supported McClellan's Peninsula campaign and Grant's conquest of the Mississippi Valley. The raiding of the Confederate cruisers- Sumter, Florida, and Alabama. Farragut's capture of the forts in Mobile Bay, and the interception of foreign ships on their way to trade with the South-all these incidents led to the North's eventual triump.
