The Laird rams : Britain's ironclads built for the Confederacy, 1862-1923 /Andrew R. English.

"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 a potential means to break the Union blockade of the Southern coastline. 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"--