From Encyclopedia of North Carolina.
Union ironclads were also associated with North Carolina. The famous USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras in the early hours of December 31, 1862. This was the most famous of the Union ironclads, the majority of which were classified as monitors with one or two revolving turrets.
The single-turreted monitors USS Canonicus, Dictator, Mahopac and Saugus and double-turreted Monadnock and ironclad warship New Ironsides took part in the attack on Fort Fisher at the end of December 1864 and January 1865.
After the war, ironclads were largely useless in that their low seaboard made them unseaworthy. The majority were scrapped and repaced with new entirely steel warships. Even so, there were still a few around into the early 1900s. "Nevertheless, ironclads were a crucial innovation in the history of naval warfare.
Spelled the End of the Wooden Warship with Fixed Broadsides. --Old B-R'er
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