Research Paper on:
The Great Iron Clad Ships: An Evolution of Warfare

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wage war for centuries. These mechanisms of warfare, however, have undergone an evolution which is practically lengthy as the evolution of man himself. This evolution is particularly noteworthy  in the period spanning from 1862 to 1914. It was during this period that many ships underwent a transformation from the sleek vessels primarily designed for the transport of  troops and goods to iron-clad warriors whose primary tasks included the direct confrontation of the enemy over the water. These great iron clads were the cutting edge of both  nautical and warfare technology. They were a hybrid which encompassed the most recent advances in weaponry and nautical science. They would forever change the manner in which countries  would both view the tactics of war and engage in war. They significantly changed the outcome of one battle after another and the ideologies which shaped them, in effect,  still dominate the world seas. As in most things concerning the history of technology, necessity is the mother of invention. The development  of the iron clads just previous to the turn of the twentieth century is related to a number of other critical developments in weaponry which were unveiled during this time.  The evolution of projectiles, for example, had just moved weaponry from relying on the so called "round balls", a spherical and relatively large and heavy shot, towards relying more  on rifled projectory which was effective over greater distances (The Mariners Museum, 2003). While the crushing power of the round balls had no match in the newly designed projectile  types (The Mariners Museum, 2003), the rapid revolution in this area could be contended to have spawned evolution in other aspects of weaponry such as ship design. The penetration