European Ironclads 1860-75: The Gloire sparks the great ironclad arms race

From Spain to Russia, and from Ottoman Turkey to Bismarck's Prussia, this book explores 15 years that transformed European naval warfare.

When the Gloire slid down the Toulon slipway in 1859, it changed sea power forever. With this ship, the world's first oceangoing ironclad, France had a warship that could sink any other, and which was proof against the guns of any wooden ship afloat. Instantly, an arms race began between the great navies of Europe – first to build their own ironclads, and ...