- Arkansas bow was probably reinforced, so who would have been damaged is an interesting question. -

This question may have been answered in late February, 1863. When Queen of the West attacked USS Indianola, she got in two good rams and one glancing blow. Her second good blow (the third hit) jarred her engine out of position, particularly the tumbler-block that held her main shaft. The chief engineer reported to the bridge that another ram “would dislodge the block and cause the main shaft to fall down, producing wreckage of the machinery, if not of the boat itself.” Had the William H. Webb not been present and also ramming the ironclad, the Queen would have been out of luck.

Also, all of the solid hits were into the side of the Indianola, none into a reinforced bow. The one blow into the bow just glanced off.

And as a side note, when the battle was over, the William H. Webb was also so busted up such that one more ram by her into Indianola would have sunk the Webb.