[58] One of Monitor's crew, Quartermaster Peter Williams, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle. Porter produced the revised plans, which were submitted to Mallory for approval. Convinced that his ship had won the day, Jones ordered her back to Norfolk. Secretary Mallory wanted the aggressive Franklin Buchanan, but at least two other captains had greater seniority and had applied for the post. Virginia broke free, however, her ram breaking off as she backed away. Karen Witemeyer I was a great student. Monitor was tiny compared to the Virginia, at only 172 feet long. [35], The Confederate chain of command was anomalous. window.Mobvious.device_type = 'mobile'; [89] The alliteration of Monitor and Merrimack has persuaded most popular accounts to adopt the familiar name, even when it is acknowledged to be technically incorrect. [39] In his absence, leadership fell to his second in command, Captain John Marston of USSRoanoke. Ericsson was afraid that using the full 30 pounds of black powder to fire the huge cannon would raise the risk of an explosion in the turret. One common myth is that, not only did the two ships not fight each other, neither ship ever fought again after March 9; in fact, although, Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of ships of the Confederate States Navy, Bibliography of American Civil War naval history, "BURNING OF GOSPORT NAVY-YARD; Eleven Vessels Scuttled and Burned, The Steam Tug, "On this Date in Civil War History March 89, 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads", "The Monitor, The MerrimackThe U.S.S. That the thanks of Congress and the American people are due and are hereby tendered to Lieutenant J. L. Worden, of the United States Navy, and to the officers and men of the ironclad gunboat Monitor, under his command, for the skill and gallantry exhibited by them in the remarkable battle between the Monitor and the rebel ironclad steamer Merrimack. ! But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! [92] The statue features a stylized male nude allegorical figure on water between two iron cleats. The American Battlefield Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. [51] While the surviving crewmen of Congress were being ferried off the ship, a Union battery on the north shore opened fire on Virginia. Great Britain followed a year later with HMSWarrior, the world's first armor-plated iron-hulled warship. On July 11, 1861, the new design was accepted, and work began almost immediately. With each broadside, the Virginia would expend 350lbs of ordnance. CS: Given his character and personality, it is no surprise that Buchanan adopted a straightforward approach: On the Virginia 's trial run, he planned to steam straight at the two enemy warships across the roadstead and smash into the one that he believed was most powerfully armed. Between the U.S.S. [44] The latter three got under way as soon as they saw Virginia approaching, but all soon ran aground. They had also seized more than a thousand heavy guns, plus gun carriages and large quantities of gunpowder. Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust. Ironically, as the ship became lighter it also became more vulnerable. Even with this lower gunpowder charge, the 165lb solid shot projectiles did much to dent and disfigure the armor plating on the Virginia. [67], Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote to Confederate President Davis of the action:[68]. url = "https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/mobile/phone_hd_images-2b89833762f600506d44865a33582d11.css"; var ue_furl = "fls-na.amazon.com"; 7177; Tucker 2006, p. 151. Seeing what had happened to Cumberland, Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith, captain of Congress, ordered his ship grounded in shallow water. gads.src = (useSSL ? [63] Stodder was knocked unconscious and taken below, where it took him an hour to regain consciousness. [14] They also held a small man-made island known as the Rip Raps, on the far side of the channel opposite Fort Monroe, and on this island they completed another fort, named Fort Wool. When Virginia approached, Monitor intercepted her. [79], However, initially after the Battle of Hampton Roads, both the Confederate and Union media claimed victory for their own sides. Over the two day battle, the Federal navy suffered 261 killed and 108 wounded in its struggle with the Virginia more killed and wounded than any other sea battle in American history at that time. When the Union ironclad U.S.S. A headline in a Boston newspaper the day after the battle read "The Merrimac Driven back by the Steamer! Inscription. Tests conducted after the battle showed that the Dahlgren guns could be operated safely and efficiently with charges of as much as 30lb (14kg). Fact #5: Despite carrying twelve large caliber guns, one of the Virginias most lethal weapons was a simple 1,500lb iron ram projecting from its bow. }; q("f", arguments) In the period of command confusion, however, the crew of Virginia believed that their opponent had withdrawn. At least nine ships were burned, among them the screw frigate USSMerrimack. retrieved August 24, 2009. [citation needed]. The vessel was still there when the Civil War began in April 1861, and Union sailors sank the ship as the yard was evacuated. To prevent any catastrophic gun bursting within the confined turret, each of the 11-inch guns was restricted to using 15-lb gunpowder charges. //]]> A drill field at the Academy is named for Worden. Three crew members, Alexander Winslow, Henry Smith and Dennis Harrington were killed during the battle and 16 were wounded. Had it come loose, the two ships might have gone down together. Also, in 1992, Virginia dedicated the $400million, 4.6-mile-long Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, which is located less than 1 mile from the site of the battle. Monitor and Virginia in the first battle between ironclads. stylesheet.href = url; Many more were built, including river monitors, and they played key roles in Civil War battles on the Mississippi and James rivers. init: function() { This preliminary skirmishing had no effect. The Confederates covered the ship in heavy armor plating above the waterline and outfitted it with powerful guns. Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones had directed much of the conversion of Merrimack to Virginia, and he was disappointed when he was not named her captain. Many artifacts from the vessel have since been recovered and are on display at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia. Most accounts emphasize the contribution of the captain of Monitor, John L. Worden, to the neglect of others. She thus became the first of two ships whose names were applied to entire classes of their successors, the other being HMSDreadnought. BATTLE. })(); It is formed at the mouths of the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth Rivers and empties into the Chesapeake Bay. var googletag = googletag || {}; It was here at Hampton Roads that the true power of ironclad warships would be discovered. In retaliation, Buchanan ordered Congress fired upon with hot shot, cannonballs heated red-hot. Also known as the Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack and the Battle of the Ironclads, the Battle of Hampton Roads was the most notable naval battle of the American Civil War. window.csa("Events")("setEntity", { Our fire immediately ceased, and a signal was made for the Beaufort to come within hail. var ue_sid = "604-3115163-9100228"; Paulding gathered a force of a hundred Marines and took ship in the Pawnee for Norfolk. . However, the cannon balls simply deflected off the iron ships. The Battle of Hampton Roads was a significant event in both Naval and Civil War history that has been detailed in many books, televised Civil War documentaries, and in film, to include TNT's 1991 Ironclads. [61] Monitor's guns were used with the standard service charge of only 15lb (6.8kg) of powder, which did not give the projectile sufficient momentum to penetrate her opponent's armor. She was ordered to Beaufort, North Carolina, on Christmas Day, to take part in the blockade there. For most of the first year of the war, the Confederacy could do little to oppose or dislodge them. Both spellings are still in use around the Hampton Roads area. Fact #2: The Confederacy had great difficulty in sourcing the iron plating needed for the Virginia. It is located in Msgr McGolrick Park. As he looked upon it, the Confederacy could not match the industrial North in numbers of ships at sea, so they would have to compete by building vessels that individually outclassed those of the Union. [54], Meanwhile, the James River Squadron had turned its attention to Minnesota, which had left Fort Monroe to join in the battle and had run aground. }); At the best facility, the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, building engines from scratch would take at least a year. var cookie = cookies[i]; [34] These were mounted in a cylindrical turret, 20ft (6.1m) in diameter, 9ft (2.7m) high, covered with iron 8in (200mm) thick. The park contains several historical markers commemorating both ships. In 1973, the wreck of the Monitor was discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1860 the French Navy commissioned La Gloire, the world's first ocean-going ironclad warship. The Best Documentary Ever - BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS 1862 - YouTube For More Military Battles visit: .A woman helps a Union soldier infiltrate the Confederate Army and learn important. [40], The battle began when the large and unwieldy CSS Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads on the morning of March 8, 1862. (function () { "ObfuscatedMarketplaceId": "A1PQBFHBHS6YH1" And it was here that the revolutionary USS Monitor, with its armored rotating turret would first enter combat. Two of her guns were disabled and several armor plates had been loosened. He was replaced by Stimers. At one point in the battle, crew members aboard the Virginia resorted to attempting to fire muskets into the open gun ports of the Monitor. The next day, the U.S.S. } else { [83] The revolving turret later inspired similar designs for future warships, which eventually became the modern battleship. [8] Even before the extension, local troops seized the Norfolk area and threatened the Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth. And I know what little I've known . Virginia, The Monitor and the Merrimack: Final Days, https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-hampton-roads. When Mallory's men searched the South for factories that could build engines to drive the heavy ships that he wanted, they found no place to do it immediately. The report will be read with deep interest, and its details will not fail to rouse the ardor and nerve the arms of our gallant seamen. Thus, each side misinterpreted the moves of the other, and as a result each claimed victory. The Battle of Hampton Roads proved the combat effectiveness of ironclads. As such, he could control the movements of Virginia. Both captains declined the opportunity to fight in waters not of their own choosing; Jeffers in particular was under positive orders not to risk his ship. On April 27, after Virginia and North Carolina had also passed ordinances of secession, the blockade was extended to include their ports also. There is nothing material or social in it. [4], Determined to complete the destruction of Minnesota, Catesby ap Roger Jones, acting as captain in Buchanan's absence, returned the ship to the fray the next morning, March 9. The duel ended indecisively, Virginia returning to her home at the Gosport Navy Yard for repairs and strengthening, and Monitor to her station defending Minnesota. [18], When steam propulsion began to be applied to warships, naval constructors renewed their interest in armor for their vessels. [44] As no one else could see to command the ship, Monitor was forced to draw off. [27] Trials showed that these rifles firing solid shot would pierce up to eight inches of armor plating. [29] The revisions, together with the usual problems associated with the transportation system of the South, resulted in delays that pushed out the launch date until February 3, 1862, and she was not commissioned until February 17, bearing the name CSSVirginia. Virginia headed directly for the Union squadron. //

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