Why were ironclads more successful than older, wooden ships?
They were successful because the naval gunnery of the time was designed to destroy ships made of wood, and were completely ineffective against iron sided vessels (in fact, even the guns on the various ironclads were ineffective agaisnt other ironclads – see the Monitor vs the Merrimack!). However, this would lead to about thirty years of muddling around by naval architects around the world, as ironclads were too heavy to be effectively powered by sails, but most nations at the time did not yet have coaling stations scattered throughout the world. As a result, for a long time ships were still built largely of wood, and their propellers were designed not to push the ship but to minimize drag when the sails were deployed, and would ultimately lead to the scramble for colonies and naval stations around the world by European powers and the USA from the 1880s to World War One in 1914.
