(March 9, 1 862)
The Monitor and Merrimack fought the first battle between ironclad vessels at Hampton Roads, Virginia, a battle that changed the nature of naval military strategy while inaugurating a new age of naval military technology.
The use of ironclad technology became widespread during the French-British-Russian conflict known as the Crimean War, in which vessels, made largely immobile by the weight of heavy iron plating, had been constructed for shore bombardments. Following the Crimean War (185356), improvements to the technology by the British and French navies produced superior models with better seafaring capabilities. Not until the onset of the Civil War, however, did the emergent technology, developed in two radically different forms by the Union and Confederate navies, encounter full combat testing.
The Union navy had the advantage of greater numbers and an industrial economy. Seeking to negate these advantages, the Confederate navy, under the leadership of Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory, turned to the ironclad. Working from plans drawn up by John Brooke, the Confederates began to build their first ironclad using the reclaimed wooden steam frigate Merrimack (the common spelling Merrimac is an oft-repeated misspelling of the name of the original vessel), which had been abandoned by the North at the Norfolk Navy Yard. The wooden upper hull was covered with iron plating and equipped with 10 heavy guns (including four rifled guns) and, borrowing from presail warships, a ram. Rechristened the CSS Virginia, the ship’s appearance was described as “the roof of a sunken house with a smokestack protruding from the water.”
The Union navy, faced with the threat posed by the ongoing construction of the Merrimack, responded with the construction of its own ironclad warship. The Union vessel, developed by Swedish-born marine engineer John Ericsson, featured a dual-hulled design with extensive armor plating. With its deck located at the waterline, limiting the exposed surface area, and a cylindrical turret rising prominently from the ship’s center, the USS Monitor was said to look like a “cheesebox on a raft.” Armed with only two cannons located in its slowly rotating turret, the design of the smaller ship, at 172 feet in length to the Merrimack’s 275 feet, emphasized its maneuverability and defensive strengths.
In an effort to break the Union naval blockade and to reestablish strategic lines to Richmond, Virginia, Confederate secretary Mallory sent the Merrimack to Hampton Roads, a harbor at the mouth of the James River. On March 8, 1862, the Merrimack, under the command of Capt. Franklin Buchanan, began an assault on the wooden ships of the Union naval blockade at Hampton
Roads. First attacking the Cwmberland, the Merri'mack encountered substantial cannon fire but sustained little damage while firing upon, then ramming and sinking the Union sloop. Turning to the frigate Congress, the Merrimack unleashed a cannon barrage that forced the Union ship to run aground and surrender, while a third Northern warship, the Minnesota, also ran aground. When Union troops on shore fired on the Confederate vessels accepting the surrender of the Congress, injuring a number of Confederates including Captain Buchanan, the captain ordered the demolition of the Union frigate. By the time darkness and low tide forced the Merrimack back to Norfolk, the Union had lost more than 300 men, including acting captain of the Congress Joseph Smith, while those Union ships not already run aground or destroyed were forced to flee the area.
The following morning, the Merrimack, now under the command of Lt. Catesby Jones as a result of Buchanan’s injury, set out to complete the destruction of the Minnesota. However, the Monitor, having completed a perilous journey from New York during which the ship nearly sank twice, reached Hampton Roads in time to prevent the destruction of the Minnesota. The Union ironclad, commanded by Lt. John Worden, engaged the Merrimack in a four-hour battle during which each ship landed a number of direct hits on the opposing vessel at short range with little effect. Though the Merrimack ran temporarily aground during the battle, the Monitor, with only two guns firing a light powder charge, was unable to take advantage of the vulnerability. Late in the conflict, the Monitor’s pilothouse was hit, temporarily blinding Worden and forcing the ship to disengage, once again exposing the Minnesota. The Merrimack, however, fearing the receding tide and in need of ammunition and minor repairs, returned to the Norfolk Navy Yard, ending the battle.
Despite the prominent role of both warships in naval history as a result of their famous stalemate, neither was to enjoy a long life at sea. The Merrimack, forced to flee Norfolk, was unable to navigate safely up the James River and was sunk on purpose on May 10, 1862. The Monitor, though nimble by ironclad standards, was barely seaworthy in rough conditions and sank during a storm off Cape Hat-teras on December 31, 1862.
Further reading: Jack Greene and Alessandro Massig-nani, Ironclads at War: The Origin and Development of the Armored Warship, 1854-1891 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998); David A. Mindell, War, Technology, and Experience aboard the U. S.S. Monitor (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000); Arthur Mokin, Ironclad: The Monitor and the Merrimack (Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 1991).
—Adam Barnhart
Battle between the ironclads Monitor and Merrimack at Hampton Roads, Virginia (Library of Congress)
World History
