The battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack was a naval battle between the two iron-plated ships. It occurred at the mouth of the James River along the harbor of Hampton Roads. This battle was the first battle between armored ships. Interestingly, both ships were constructed by the North. The South had raised the sunken Merrimack and turned it into an ironclad. The Monitor however was purpose built as an ironclad ship. The Merrimack had the advantage of being the first ironclad that was built. It used this advantage to take several Northern ships off guard and totally destroyed them. Only two days later would the Merrimack Encounter the Unions ironclad Monitor. The designs of the Monitor and the Merrimack had important differences in their