The Laird Rams: Britain’s Ironclads Built for the Confederacy, 1862-1923

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Built in Birkenhead, England, from 1862-1865, the Laird rams were two innovative armored warships intended for service with the Confederate Navy during the Civil War. The vessels represented a substantial threat to Union naval power and offered the Confederacy potential means to break the Union blockade of Southern coastline.

During 1863, the critical year of the Confederacy’s last, slim hope of recognition by the British and French, President Lincoln threatened war with the British if the ships ever sailed under Confederate colors. Built in some secrecy, then floated on the River Mersey under the gaze of intense international scrutiny, the ships were suddenly purchased by Britain to avoid a war with the U.S., then were largely forgotten.

Historians rarely mention these sister warships-if referred at all, they are given short shrift. This book provides the first complete history of these once famous ironclads that never fired a shot in anger yet served at distant stations as defenders of the British Empire.