Category: Industrial Profiteering

• The "Monitor" vs. "Merrimack" Treason

  This theory held that the famous ironclad clash at Hampton Roads was not simply an indecisive military encounter but a mutually useful spectacle manipulated by industrial interests. In its strongest form, the story claimed that speculators, shipbuilders, and iron or steel contractors quietly benefited from an inconclusive first duel that would guarantee huge naval contracts and continued investment in armored fleets. The documented record clearly shows that the battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (formerly Merrimack) revolutionized naval warfare and triggered an enormous new appetite for ironclad construction. What remains unproven is the claim that the battle itself was “fixed” by industrial speculators or arranged to maximize procurement.