Five Flags

As wooden ships gave way to ironclads, and sail gave way to steam in the nineteenth century, one warship fought through the civil wars that shaped modern America, Germany and Japan. Its career spanned high politics and secret diplomacy, arms dealers and royal courts, spies, sailors, and samurai across three continents. In a vivid narrative travelling from London to Paris, from Copenhagen to Havana, from Washington to Tokyo, Five Flags brings this incredible true story to life. Strangled by the Union's naval blockade, the Confederacy needed ships - and turned to Europe to build them. In 1862, Emperor Napoleon III agreed to deliver a unique new design whose 300-pounder canon, 5 inches of armour, and twenty-foot bow ram made her a threat to every warship on earth. Before the mighty ironclad was finished, U.S. agents discovered it, and she was sold to Denmark, only to be smuggled back after her defeat by Prussia. Christened Stonewall after the legendary general, the ship took on an elite crew with 5 captains among them, narrowly survived terrifying storms, took refuge in Spain and had to run the gauntlet of Union warships and Spanish courts to escape. The Stonewall reached Cuba in May 1865 - too late to change the Civil War - before her sale to the Queen of Spain, and a handover to a newly re-united America. But the ironclad would not end its career mothballed at the Washington Navy Yard. Though sold to the Tokugawa shogun in 1867, she was delivered to his bitter enemy the emperor and led the brutal and harrowing war at sea that secured the Meiji restoration and set Japan on a path of modernization, industrialization, and expansion that would end in World War II.

As wooden ships gave way to ironclads in the middle of the nineteenth century, one warship stood out. Born in the American Civil War and buffeted by the rivalries of North and South and Europe, it ultimately helped secure the foundations of modern Japan. Its career encompassed two civil wars and featured high politics and secret diplomacy, arms dealers and royal courts, spies, sailors, and samurai. In a vivid narrative traveling from London to Paris, from Copenhagen to Havana, from Washington to Tokyo, Ships of Five Nations brings to life this incredible true story. Strangled by the Union’s naval blockade, the Confederacy needed ships—and turned to Europe to build them. In 1862 it hired a French shipbuilder to secretly construct one of the deadliest warships built to that time: an ironclad mounting a 300-pounder gun, two 70-pounders, two 6-pounders, four 4-pounders, a Gatling gun, and a 20-foot ram off its bow, and clad in armor nearly 5 inches thick. Before the mighty ironclad was finished, U.S. agents discovered it, and the ship was sold to Denmark, which changed its mind but agreed to transfer it to the Confederacy. Christened Stonewall after the legendary general, the ship was damaged in a storm and took refuge in Spain. By now, the U.S. had located the Stonewall , but feared the gunship and did not give chase when the ironclad disembarked. The Stonewall reached Cuba in May 1865—after the end of the Civil War—and the captain sold the ship to Spain, which then sold it to the United States. But the ironclad would not end its career mothballed at the Washington Navy Yard. In 1867 the Tokugawa shogunate approached the U.S. to buy naval vessels for its conflict with resurgent imperial forces in Japan. The U.S. agreed to sell the Stonewall , but by the time the warship reached Japan, imperial forces had taken the upper hand, and the U.S. now sold the ship to the new Imperial Japanese Navy, which deployed it—renamed Kotetsu— as the centerpiece of the fleet that would defeat the shogunate and secure the Meiji Restoration, setting Japan on the path of modernization, industrialization, and expansion that would end in World War II.