Cheesebox on a Raft

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. It is considered the the first modern war because of the numerous technological advancements that were implemented. The water saw major advancements in naval warfare, especially when it witnessed the first battle between two "new" ironclads.  
Reports reached Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, that the Confederate Navy was preparing a huge ironclad ship to ram through the North's blockade in the Cheasapeake Bay. Answering Welles's request for a new vessel, Swedish immigrant and earlier inventor of the screw propeller, John Ericsson, designed what became the U.S.S. Monitor. The hull was laid at Continental Iron Works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on October 21, 1861 and launched on January 30, 1862.  A statue is located in Greenpoint's Monsignor McGolrick Park, facing Monitor Street, commemorating the ship and Ericsson, who referred to his design as, a "cheesebox on a raft." On March 8-9, 1862 the Monitor was made famous when she defeated the Confederate ironclad ram, Virginia (formally CSS Merrimac) in the first ever ironclad vs. ironclad naval battle. 

Captains: John L Worden (Monitor) & Franklin Buchanan (Virginia)

Ericsson might have made fun of his design, but given the look of many of today's stealth craft, the ironclad designers were clearly onto something.