What if The Ironclads were created before The Napoleonic Era?

So it's exactly what says on the tin. Mid 19th to early 20th is my Favorite Era so the ships of that time are the thing that i like more than the rest of history of this era, Screw Frigates/Corvettes, Monitors, Ironclad Battleships, Pre-Dreadnoughts and Torpedo Boats these ships are perfect, despite of They did not fight each other, so i thought a little about what if they appeared before Napoleonic Era, of course i think they aren't Steamers Just Ironclad ships with Sails and Explosive Shells what kind of impact it may have on Following Wars Like Greek war of independence, Russo-Turkish war and others?
 
Boarding actions, lots and lots of boarding actions.

The thing about the ironclad was it emerged as the result of artillery getting a lot more effective and this effect was particularly felt at sea. However before the shell really made an entrance naval engagement ranges had extended from a practical 200-300 yards to as much as a mile (say 1600 metres for SI minded folks). Essentially at battles like Trafalgar the two fleet found themselves so close ships got entangled in each other's rigging. The seamen on both sides then lined up and fought a close range cannon duel. Navarino was not as close range but still revolved around the same essential the same model of short range firepower.

Now the big issue is that a British 32 pounder or a French 36 pounder is still quite a lot of gun and so you are not going to get away with any old iron if you want to armour your ship, you are probably looking at wrought iron of at least two inches thick and that is quite heavy. Also the national iron industries of even countries like Britain are not nearly as developed as they by the Crimean War when ironclads came into fashion, further but wooden ships remained fairly tough HMS Shah and HMS Amethyst for example were criticised for not catching and either sinking or taking the ironclad Huascar in 1879. So you are only likely to see a relatively small number of ironclads in among the wooden ships and their advantages might me more limited than expected. Not to mention that under sail alone they will likely manoeuvre like pigs.

Which means that ironclads likely be lower in the water are not going to enjoy tangling with Ship of the Line at close quarters but are less likely than frigates of the same dimensions to be able to easily run away.
 
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