Admiral Franklin Buchanan. Monitor on the James River. It would later be used to construct the CSS Virginia. The battle lasts for more than four hours. While neither ship gains a decisive advantage, it is a strategic victory for the Union because the Virginia is unable to destroy any more of the Union's wooden fleet. May 8, The CSS Virginia pulls out of Norfolk for the third time in its short life, and again it sees little engagement.
May 11, Confederates destroy the CSS Virginia after the fall of Yorktown because it draws too much water to navigate up the James River and in order to ensure that it would not fall into Union hands.
Davis, William C. Duel Between the First Ironclads. Garden City, N. Smith, Gene A. Abilene, Tex. Wood, John Taylor. New York: Century Co. To achieve this goal, the Confederates sought to take advantage of what the Yankees left behind. After Virginia seceded in April , many of the ships and repair facilities of the U. Navy at the Gosport Naval Yard in Portsmouth were hastily sunk or destroyed by retreating Union forces.
The USS Merrimack had been scuttled and her upper works destroyed by fire. The Confederates raised Merrimack from the mud of the Elizabeth River, moved her into an undamaged graving dock, and transformed her into a heavily armed ironclad vessel. They rechristened the ship the CSS Virginia. News of the Virginia caused panic in Washington. The Union navy quickly had to come up with their own answer to the ironclad warship.
And they succeeded. A new and innovative warship silently slipped into Hampton Roads during the night of March 8, Commanded by Lt. John L. Worden, it was prepared to defend the rest of the Federal fleet from the seemingly invincible Confederate monster. To increase her threat, a 1,pound iron ram is attached underwater to her bows. Seeking to destroy Union blockading vessels in Hampton Roads, Virginia leaves Portsmouth on the morning of March 8 and steams downriver to attack the Union ships at anchor there.
The innovative Monitor is battle-ready and incorporates 40 patentable inventions. The ship is fitted out with two massive inch Dahlgren guns. March 8. Around p. Cumberland goes to the bottom with her colors flying, taking Union sailors down with her. Seeking to avoid the same fate that befell the Cumberland , the Congress runs aground nearby. Virginia pounds the frigate with its powerful broadsides.
Unable to maneuver, Congress is quickly wrecked by Confederate gunfire and catches fire. With daylight waning and its captain needing medical attention, the Virginia halts its attack and returns to the safety of the Elizabeth River.
March 9. Catesby Jones, now in command of Virginia , prepares the Rebel ironclad for another assault. Steaming towards the steam frigate USS Minnesota , the Virginia begins to take her new victim under fire. As the Virginia approaches Minnesota , Jones notices a strange raft-like vessel by its side. With the Monitor now bearing down on the Virginia , the Confederate ironclad shifts its fire to this newcomer with the large, two-gun rotating iron turret.
The two ironclads settle down to a close-range slug fest. Both ships noisily fire into each other with little effect, their shots glancing off their armored sides. Virginia at one point tries to ram the smaller Monitor , but the nimbler Union vessel turns sharply to avoid the blow.
After several hours of close combat, Worden, standing in the pilot house on the Monitor , is temporarily blinded when a shell from the Virginia explodes close by. The Monitor disengages and heads for the safety of shallow water where the deep-draft Virginia cannot follow.
Despite its temporary advantage, the Virginia , short on ammunition and threatened by the outgoing tide, withdraws and heads for the safety of Portsmouth. For the next few months, the Monitor remains in Hampton Roads protecting the Union fleet there. Virginia ventures out from Portsmouth occasionally but never confronts the Monitor again. With the threat from the Virginia neutralized, Union blockade operations from Hampton Roads are restored and Maj.
George B. During the two-day battle, the Federal navy suffers killed and wounded in its struggle with the Virginia —more killed and wounded than in any other sea battle in American history at that time. Rechristened the Virginia upon its launch in February , it was a formidable vessel. On March 8, , it cruised down the Elizabeth River and sunk the U. Cumberland before running aground the U.
Congress and setting her on fire off Hampton Roads in southeastern Virginia. The next day, the U. The Monitor had set sail only three days earlier from Brooklyn under the command of Lieutenant John L. Designed by Swedish engineer John Ericsson, the vessel had an unusually low profile, rising from the water only 18 inches. The flat iron deck had a foot cylindrical turret rising from the middle of the ship; the turret housed two inch Dahlgren guns. The Monitor had a draft of less than 11 feet so it could operate in the shallow harbors and rivers of the South.
It was commissioned on February 25, , and arrived at Chesapeake Bay just in time to engage the Virginia. The battle between the Virginia and the Monitor began on the morning of March 9 and continued for four hours. The ships circled one another, jockeying for position as they fired their guns. However, the cannon balls simply deflected off the iron ships. In the early afternoon, the Virginia pulled back to Norfolk. Neither ship was seriously damaged, but the Monitor effectively ended the short reign of terror that the Confederate ironclad had brought to the Union fleet.
Both ships met ignominious ends. In , the wreck of the Monitor was discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
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