The Battle Of The Ironclads

The Battle of Hampton Roads, a dual between two ironclads was fought on March 9th 1862.

Planning to break up the Union blockade, on March 8th 1862 the Confederate ironclad ram the CSS Virginia [also known as the CSS Merrimack] with several other vessels in support, attacked a number of wooden-hulled ships belonging to the Union Navy. The Virginia destroyed two ships and was about to attack the USS Minnesota which had run aground. The attack was called off by darkness and the falling tide. The crew of the Virginia took the time to repair some minimal damage and care for wounded, including her captain Franklin Buchanan.

Planning to resume it's attack on the USS Minnesota, acting captain Roger Jones didn’t know that the ironclad the USS Monitor had arrived in the early morning hours of March 9th 1862. The captain of the Monitor, Lieutenant John Worden, took up a defensive position and intercepted the CSS Monitor as she approached the USS Minnesota. The two ironclads battled for three hours, without either ship causing much damage to the other. When the fighting ended the CSS Virginia returned to her home berth at the Gosport Navy Yard, and the USS Monitor returned to defending the Minnesota.

She Changed Shipping Forever

The USS Monitor, with its turreted center gun was launched today, January 30th 1862. The Monitor was the first ironclad commissioned by the United States Navy. She is more famous for the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9th 1862 in which the Monitor fought the Confederate ship the CSS Virginia.

The Monitor was designed by John Ericsson a Swedish engineer, but Saratoga Springs, New York‘s Theodore Timby designed the revolving gun turret. She was described as a “cheese box on a raft”. The deck was armored and sat just above the waterline, and was built at the Continental Iron Works in Brooklyn,NY. Although the Monitor preformed well in river combat, she was not made for the rough waters of the ocean. She became swamped during a storm by high waves off Cape Hatteras,North Carolina on December 31st 1862. Sixteen of her sixty-two crew were lost in the storm.