When a civil war broke out in America in 1861, the European powers were already armed with clumsy armored batteries of the Crimean War, and the first French ironclad Gluar had already entered service. However, in fact, there wasn’t anything really new in them.

The European battleships were a product of evolution, while the USS Monitor became a real revolution and largely determined the concept of the further development of the capital ship in the 19th century. The Monitor is the world's first tower ship. The first battleship of coastal defense of a special construction. Member of the first battle of armored ships. A revolutionary weapon and one of the symbols of the American Civil War.