Five Flags: The Warship that Reshaped the World

From the American Civil War to the Meiji Restoration, one ironclad warship shaped the fate of three nations across four decades of global conflict.

Five Flags tells the story of a Confederate ironclad built in secret, discovered by Union spies, sold to Denmark, returned to France, and ultimately delivered to Japan. Intended to break the Union blockade, the ship never fought for the Confederacy but instead moved through European powers before reaching Japan, where it played a role in the Meij...