Ironclads (film)
| Ironclads | |
|---|---|
Poster
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| 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(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
David A. Rosemont Norman Rosemont |
| Cinematography | William Wages |
| Editor(s) | Millie Moore |
| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Turner Pictures |
| Distributor | Turner Home Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | Turner Broadcasting Network |
| Original release | March 11, 1991 |
Ironclads is a 1991 made-for-television movie produced by Ted Turner's TNT company about the events behind the creation of the CSS Virginia from the remains of the USS Merrimack and the battle between the Virginia and the USS Monitor in the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8, 1862 – March 9, 1862. Noel Taylor received an Emmy Award nomination for his costume designs for the production.
Quartermaster's Mate Leslie Harmon is awaiting a court martial when he is brought to Commodore Joseph Smith (E.G. Marshall) and his son Lt. Joseph B. Smith, Jr. (Kevin O'Rourke). He deliberately interfered with the militarily necessary demolition of the dry dock at Hampton Roads Naval Base to prevent collateral damage and civilian casualties, as Confederates overran the base.
Harmon is introduced to Miss Betty Stuart, a Virginia belle educated in Baltimore who wishes to help Harmon spy on the C.S. Navy at Gosport on the raised and refitted Merrimack, now the ironclad Virginia. Once in the South, Harmon encounters many key naval officers and learns that the armor test on 3" of iron plate is staged to offer misinformation to any Union spies...like him. In reality, the Virginia brags 4" of armor and cannot be pierced by any Union guns. Harmon and Betty realize that this information must make it to Washington D.C. to improve firepower to sink the Virginia.
However, upon learning that her childhood friend Lt. Catesby ap Roger Jones had been reassigned as the second-in-command of the CSS Virginia and is now in danger of death to the very intelligence she intended to send North, Betty has a change of heart when she realizes her actions opposed her fellow Virginians and C.S. sailors. She tries to stop Harmon from going north with the intelligence, but he goes anyway. At the launch of the Virginia, she confesses to her now-fiance Lt. Jones that she had helped Leslie Harmon infiltrate the shipyard and spy for the Union. She tells him of Union gun power and their most likely upgrades--upgrades made on her advice--and now advises him on adding armor to counter the improved Union 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 fiancee. The Virginia sails off to break the Union blockade at Hampton Roads. Betty is promptly arrested by Lt. Guilford (Philip Casnoff) on suspicion of espionage.
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