jtb@phs.UUCP (11/08/83)
I dont know about the balance of the statements about Britan but this article contains one historical error to major to pass without comment. The ironclad Merrimac famous for its battle with the monitor was not built in in England. It was assembled in a Confederate shipyard on the damaged hull of the American warship Merrimac which fell into confederate hands at the start of the war after the US Navy was unable to move it and failed to completly destroy it. The Confederate name was different. Calling it the Merrimac is a clever propaganda ploy which emphasizes the inability of the south to build hi-tech weapons. The ship built in England for the Confederacy was the Alabama a commerce raider of conventional design which greatly harmed US flag merchant shipping untill it was destroyed by the USS Kearsarge of France. After the war the US demanded that Britan pay for the damage done by the Alabama and relations were very bad untill they agreed to this. Late in the war Britan began construction of two advanced ocean going ironclads for the Confederates. The US was alarmed enough to threaten Ithreaten Britan with everyting including war and got delivery stoped. Jose Torre-Bueno decvax!duke!phs!jtb