Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months that Gave America the Emancipation

[Eva Elisabeth]

As I had understood, the rams ("commercial vessels" to be armed in France) were build for profit by Lairds & Birkenhead rather than real interest in supporting the Confederacy to win the war.

When exactly did the British government know of all this, from the beginning? Or did they take the "commercial vessels" at first? Were the rams indeed comparable to the US ironclads?

However, again, the CSA were not openly recognized, Bulloch entered the contract as a private citizen with no reference to the Confederacy.