What affects do you guys think that metal ships had on the battle and the various things that happened. Do you guys think that these metal ships had a larger affect on the battle and deaths?
Without a doubt, the advent of the modern warship, in action from, say, from from the First World War forward changed the way of doing business in naval warfare. Pretty much the Spanish-American War of 1898 and maybe the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 were the last times one saw colors struck in a fleet action. After that it was pretty much a matter of "shoot at them until they sink". Thus, casualties went up and ships captured, in terms of numbers, went down.
