The 1862 battle between the C.S.S. Virginia and the U.S.S. Monitor off Hampton Roads, Virginia marked the first time ironclad ships met in combat. The Civil War ushered in a number of advances in naval technology beyond the use of ironclads, including gains in mine, torpedo and artillery design, as well as the first-time use of a submarine to sink an enemy ship.
Museum of the Confederacy Historian John Coski talked about these developments at an event in Richmond, Virginia.