Whats the difference between a Civil War Monitor and a Vietnam War Monitor?

Answer 1

The US Civil War Monitor had twin 11 inch guns on her single turret. The Vietnam War Monitor normally had a single 40mm gun in its single turret. The monitors of the US Civil War were built as warships like the British monitors of World War I, and they were given names. They were intended to combat enemy warships and for heavy shore bombardment. The monitors of the Vietnam War were armed and armored modifications of landing craft to provide security on the Mekong river; similar in design and concept to German monitors (called F-Lighters) which defended Axis shipping in coastal areas of World War II, and they were given only numbers. The British monitors were like small battleships with large guns mounted in a single turret. Variations exist depending on country, era, and mission, but a monitor can be defined as a slow heavily-armored vessel which carries few guns of a large caliber for its size; a gunship. A single turret is the norm, but exceptions exist. The German F-Lighters had two 88mm in single-gun turrets. In the US Civil War, the Union Navy operated a small number of monitors with twin 11 inch guns in one turret and twin 15 inch guns in a second turret.