Monitor versus the Merrimac

In this historic clash in March 1862, the Union Monitor, called by many a "e;cheese box on a raft,"e; exchanged cannon shot after cannon shot with the Confederate Merrimac, comically referred to as a "e;floating barn roof."e; Although an indecisive victory for either side, the spectacular event, witnessed by hundreds of people on nearby boats and shorelines, forever changed the way naval warfare was to be fought.