This beautiful flower is part of the kingdom plantae, division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Asparagales, family Iridaceae, and genus Iris. Because Iris is the messenger of love in Greeks myths the iris flower has many meanings, depending on its color. For example the blue iris symbolizes faith and hope, the purple iris wisdom and compliments and so on.
Ironclad warship. An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates used in the early part of the second half of the 19th century.[1] The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells.
With a smaller fleet and fewer shipyards than the North, the Confederates counted on making the ships they had as formidable as possible. They decided to challenge the Union navy with the latest technology: ironclads. Though iron-armored ships had appeared in Europe in the 1850s, Union warships were still built of wood.