num_pages: 203
description: When his father is killed fighting for the Union in the War Between the States thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll must take a job to help support his family. He manages to find work at a bustling ironworks in his hometown of Brooklyn New York where dozens of men are frantically pounding together the strangest ship Tom has ever seen. A ship made of iron .Tom becomes assistant to the ships inventor a gruff boastful man named Captain John Ericsson. He soon learns that the Union army has very important plans for this iron ship called the Monitor . It is supposed to fight the Confederate sea monster--another ironclad--the Merrimac . But Ericsson is practically the only person who believes the Monitor will float. Everyone else calls it Ericssons Folly or the iron coffin.Meanwhile Toms position as Ericssons assistant has made him a target of Confederate spies who offer him money for information about the ship. Tom finds himself caught between two certain an encounter with murderous spies and a battle at sea in an iron coffin  
language: English
title: Iron Thunder: The Battle Between the Monitor & the Merrimac
publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers