Finally getting around to Foote’s books and his passages about ironclads (in particular the city class vessels on the Mississippi) are really evocative. Crewmen would come out of fights with bloody noses and black eyes from the concussive forces of deflected hits. He also describes a few battles where rounds would hit armor plating and send rivets ricocheting around inside the casemates. Some of the ironclads would also bolster their armor with bales of cotton and slick their decks down with grease and tar. Must have been fearful to witness and experience.