Though wooden ships were still largely employed, the ironclad even then had begun to take a commanding place, and the sailing ship at last disappeared from naval warfare.
The ironclad ram "Albemarle," built at Edwards' Ferry on the Roanoke river, had done considerable damage to the Federal vessels which, since Burnside's expedition to Newberne, had cruised in Albemarle Sound, and in 1864 a force of double-enders and gunboats, under Captain Melancton Smith, U.S.N., was given the special task of destroying the rebel ram.
Making his way up the Roanoke as far as Plymouth he there sank the ironclad at her wharf by exploding a spar-torpedo (October 27).
On the Spanish model concordats were arranged with various Central and South American republics, perhaps the most ironclad being that concluded with Ecuador in 1862 (abrogated 1878).
The convention of 1861, by maintaining continuous government, had saved the state from anarchy and from reconstruction by the national power; but an ironclad test oath (it required denial of forty-five distinct offences) was provided, to be taken by all voters, state, county and municipal officers, lawyers, jurors, teachers and clergymen.