Deterring Columbia: British naval supremacy -- An ironclad race with France -- Industry and conversion problems -- Enter Captain Coles -- The specter of modern coastal defense and assault -- Two ironclad adversaries : the Confederacy and Great Britain -- Building the Monitor -- Effect of the Trent affair -- Congress debates the "20 ironclad gunboats" -- The fulcrum of Hamptom Roads -- Hampton Roads and its consequences -- Super-monitors, super-guns -- Ericsson, the Navy, and control of the Union ironclad program -- British reactions to Hampton Roads and the "Monitor Riddle" -- Enter E.J. Reed, naval architect -- Palmerston's policy -- Deterring Britannia: the Trent affair reversed -- Cole loses ground -- The practical concerns against British intervention -- Summer of 1862: the tide turns against the Union -- The Passaic crisis -- Shifting ironclad confidence -- Regaining the strategic initiative? -- Culmination and consequence: the fiery focus.