| Ironclads | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Written by | Harold Gast |
| Directed by | Delbert Mann |
| Starring | Virginia Madsen Alex Hyde-White E. G. Marshall Fritz Weaver Philip Casnoff Reed Diamond |
| Theme music composer | Allyn Ferguson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producers | David A. Rosemont Norman Rosemont |
| Cinematography | William Wages |
| Editor | Millie Moore |
| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Production company | Turner Pictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | Turner Broadcasting Network |
| Release | March 11, 1991 (1991-03-11) |
Ironclads is a 1991made-for-television movie produced byTed Turner'sTNT company about the events behind the creation ofCSS Virginia from the remains ofUSS Merrimack and the battle betweenVirginia andUSS Monitor in theBattle of Hampton Roads, March 8, 1862 – March 9, 1862.Noel Taylor received anEmmy Award nomination for his costume designs for the production.
Quartermaster'sMate Leslie Harmon is awaiting a court martial when he is brought toCommodoreJoseph Smith (E.G. Marshall) and his sonLieutenantJoseph B. Smith Jr. (Kevin O'Rourke). He deliberately interfered with the militarily necessary demolition of the dry dock atHampton Roads Naval Base to prevent collateral damage and civilian casualties, as Confederates overran the base.
Harmon is introduced to Miss Betty Stuart, a VirginiaSouthern belle educated inBaltimore who wishes to help Harmon spy on theConfederate States Navy atGosport on the raised and refittedUSSMerrimack, now the ironcladCSSVirginia. Once in the South, Harmon encounters many key naval officers and learns that the armor test on 3 inches (76 mm) of iron plate is staged to offer misinformation to any Union spies—like him. In reality,Virginia boasts 4 inches (100 mm) of armor and cannot be pierced by any Union guns. Harmon and Betty realize that this information must make it to Washington to improve firepower to sinkVirginia.
However, Betty has a change of heart upon learning that her childhood friend and lover, LieutenantCatesby ap Roger Jones, has been reassigned as the second-in-command of theVirginia and is now in danger of death due to the very intelligence she intended to send North. She tries to stop Harmon from going north with the intelligence, but he goes anyway. At the commissioning ceremony forVirginia, she confesses to her now-fiancé Lt. Jones that she had helped Leslie Harmon infiltrate the shipyard and spy for the Union, warning him of the possible increase in firepower. He is stunned and distraught at her betrayal, yet sails to war without turning her in as one final act of love for his traitorous fiancé.Virginia sails off to break the Union blockade at Hampton Roads. Betty is promptly arrested by Lt. Guilford (Philip Casnoff), an admiral's aide and spy hunter, on suspicion of espionage.
Virginia first approachesUSS Congress as her skipper, Lt. Smith, rallies his men on board to do their duty. CaptainFranklin Buchanan (Leon B. Stevens) ofVirginia rallies his men similarly.Congress fires a full broadside intoVirginia to no effect. In the ensuing action,Virginia bypassesCongress, promptly sinksUSS Cumberland, and returns to sinkCongress. Lt. Smith is killed; taking over command, executive officer Lt. Pendergrast orders the ship's surrender. ThoughVirginia's crew are jubilant, rifle fire from Union troops ashore enrages Captain Buchanan. He goes topside to return fire and is wounded, thereupon ordering Jones to assume command and setCongress ablaze.
That same night, Lt. Guilford interrogates Betty, who denies being a spy based on an intercepted letter to her from Lt. Smith. She is informed then of Smith's death aboardCongress. When informed that her fate is the gallows if she does not cooperate, she hopes for the courtesy and respect shown an executed spy the day before (whose hanging she witnessed). Lt. Guilford rebuffs her, showing his contempt for her treason when compared to the bravery of the hanged soldier who was honorably fighting for his side.
During the night,USSMonitor sails in between the burningCongress andVirginia to protectUSS Minnesota, which has run aground and is defenseless until high tide returns the next day. Only the low tide has preventedVirginia from finishing offMinnesota immediately. Captain Van Brunt (Joel Abel)[1] delivers orders to CaptainJohn Worden (Andy Park) ofMonitor, along with Leslie Harmon, who has volunteered his service as a pilot. Worden makes Harmon, familiar with Hampton Roads andVirginia, midshipman on the spot.
The morning of the second day of battle, Jones sightsMonitor and describes her as "the test we face." Worden does his best to engageVirginia as far fromMinnesota as he can, aided byMonitor's shallower draft, greater maneuverability, and the damage sustained byVirginia the previous day. As the two ships exchange fire,Virginia runs aground, but is able to pull free. Jones attempts to ram theMonitor but fails to do significant damage; Worden orders a return ramming attempt, but is blinded when a shell fromVirginia strikesMonitor's pilot house.Monitor withdraws, having delayedVirginia from sinkingMinnesota. In view of the damage toVirginia, the exhaustion of his crew, and the falling tide, Jones also decides to retire back to port.
Both sides claim victory, although theMonitor saved the rest of the blockade from destruction. Her designer,John Ericsson (Fritz Weaver), has an argument with Secretary of the NavyGideon Welles (Conrad McLaren) over the use of insufficient powder inMonitor's guns to sinkVirginia: Welles's officers respond that it was a calculated decision to prevent the guns from exploding and protect the lives of the crew.
Back at Gosport, Lt. Guilford is pleased to release Betty, informing her that she savedVirginia based on a report by Lt. Jones. Demonstrating Southern chivalry, he was pleased to not have to hang her. In reality, Lt. Jones used Betty's confession the day before to send false intelligence to the Union, which resulted in the lesser powder charges used byMonitor. Lt. Jones tells Betty that he could not bear to see her hang, but that he can never be with her again due to her treasonous actions. She is sent north, forever marked as a traitor to her family, friends, and fellow Virginians.
A voice-over narrative indicates thatVirginia was scuttled two months later after Union troops tookNorfolk, and thatMonitor sank offCape Hatteras at the end of the year.
Alex Hyde-White later portrayed Union Major GeneralAmbrose Burnside in the 2003 filmGods and Generals. Also, Philip Casnoff's character in this film is quite similar in accent and personality to his role in the 1985 miniseriesNorth and South a few years prior, but with Southern chivalry and without the sociopathy.
In 2017, Hyde-White gave an interview to the "A Word on Westerns" YouTube channel, in which he recalled that most of the film's extras were Civil War reenactors using their own gear.[2]
This film was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or Special, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries or Special and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special. However it did not win any of these awards.