12:00 PM. The Confederate battleship CSS Virginia, the first true all-steel battleship, though still reinforced with oak, leaves Norfolk Harbor. Her armament consists of a gigantic ram and two 7-inch Brooke rifled guns. In a historic naval engagement, she single-handedly defeats almost the entire Union fleet facing her: the Cumberland, the Congress, and other ships are sunk or disabled. Panic begins to spread in Washington: how can this new naval technology be stopped? Britain suddenly realizes that the Royal Navy is obsolete.
