Turtle ships

I’m sure you’ve all seen the movie Sahara , based on the book by Clive Cussler. The plot in short: (quoted from IMDB ) “Master explorer Dirk Pitt goes on the adventure of a lifetime of seeking out a lost Civil War battleship known as the "Ship of Death" in the deserts of West Africa”. Now, this battleship is called an ironclad. Ironclads originated in Korea in the 1413. They were then called “turtle ships”. In those days it was basically a wooden hull covered with iron plates. They fitted these “turtle ships”, with up to 5 types of cannons, as it was 30 to 37 meters long. It also normally had some sort of a ramming tool mounted in front, probably a dragonhead. It was also fitted with oars and could hold about a hundred marines and about fifty oarsmen. It had 11 cannon-ports on each side, plus one fore and one aft. Its main purpose was to ram other ships, damaging them to such an extent as to drown them, while providing the necessary protection to those inside.

It looks like they were only used in river systems until 1859, when the French launched the first ocean-going ironclad called the La Gloire ("Glory"). Twenty-one months later, the British launched their version, called the HMS Warrior. In 1861, the first steam-powered ones were built for the American Civil War.

Subsequently, the Swedish, Spanish, Italian and many other European countries made us of these “river monitors”. Only drawback, while the ironclads were powerful, it was nearly impossible for the crew to escape if they were holed in deep water by a mine. The age of the ironclad came to an end in 1890, when they were replaced with pre-dreadnoughts.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War